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MAKING 
HOME PROFITABLE 



BY 

KATE V. SAINT-MAUR 

AUTHOR OF " THE EARTH'S BOUNTY," ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 



STURGIS & WALTON 

COMPANY 

1912 



Copyright 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911 
By THE CROWELL PUBLISHING CO. 



Copyright 191a 
By STURGIS & WALTON CO. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1912 



nO 



£n a:-!142!>3 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A Profitable Home :...,... 3 

Poultry 13 

The Sitting Hen and the Incubator 29 

Raising Early Broilers 39 

The Poultry Yard in Mid-Season 47 

July in the Poultry Yard 53 

A Flock of Turkeys 63 

Ducks and Geese 71 

Pigeons and Squabs 79 

Poultry Ailments 87 

The Vegetable Garden 95 

The Hotbed 105 

How to Grow Asparagus m 

How to Grow Mushrooms 121 

Six Good Vegetables to Grow 129 

How to Plant and Cultivate Strawberries I35 

How to Grow Small Fruits i43 

How to Raise Perennial Plants 151 

June Roses i57 

Lavender and Herbs 165 

Growing Watercress ^73 

My Experience with Bees i79 

Storing Fruit and Vegetables 187 

Forcing Rhubarb and Asparagus I93 

Raising Pigs i99 

Caring for House Pets 207 

Raising Canaries for Market . 217 

The Business Side 223 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

A Border of Hardy Perennials Frontispiece ^ 

FACING PAGE 

The Poultry Yard 48 / 

A Flock of Turkeys 641 

Ducks and Geese 72 

A Corner of the Vegetable Garden 96 

Mushrooms 122 '^' 

June Roses 156 

A Cellar Store-Room . . . :. . • :.,.,. . . .186 



MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 



MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 



A PROFITABLE HOME 

IT is just sixteen years since misfortune brought 
about our emancipation. A disastrous business 
venture made it necessary to curtail expenses. 
Rent being an especially heavy item, the hunt for a 
cheaper habitation commenced. Toiling up and down 
innumerable stuffy staircases in tow of slatternly jani- 
tors revealed the fact that cheap flats were either over- 
crowded barracks redolent of dirty soapsuds and stale 
cooking, or overdecorated cubbyholes where children 
were tabooed. Evening after evening for two weeks 
I returned home weary and discouraged. 

Then chance, in the shape of a poultry show, came 
to my relief. Instead of a cheap flat and semi-dark 
rooms, why not a house and garden, where we could 
have chickens, eggs and vegetables of our own? 
Friends scoffed; and even my husband, who had al- 
ways joined me in planning the ideal home of our old 
age, as a place far from the noise and rush of the city, 
where we could indulge our love of flowers and ani- 
mals, demurred at first, though he eventually became 
imbued with my enthusiasm, and told me to go ahead 

3 



4 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

if I felt equal to shouldering the responsibilities whicH 
city duties would obviously prevent his sharing. 

He stipulated also that transportation to and from 
his business in the city, and all other expenses, should 
come within the newly necessary curtailment of ex- 
penses, which limited rent to twenty-five dollars a 
month and the housekeeping allowance to twelve dol- 
lars a week; that none of our very limited capital 
should be risked, excepting one hundred dollars to 
cover expense of moving, etc., and that even this sum 
should be considered as a loan. To satisfy the dear 
man's cautious, masculine ideas of fairness, I took 
twenty- four hours to consider the conditions, and then, 
with solemn, businesslike gravity, accepted. 

A painstaking advertisement in a Sunday paper, stat- 
ing plainly that we wanted a small farm near the city 
and a railway station, the rent not to exceed fifteen 
dollars a month, brought dozens of letters offering all 
sorts of places at all sorts of distances and prices, but 
only six real answers. With the writers of these six 
letters I corresponded; studied innumerable railway 
guides ; took several fruitless journeys ; hesitated about 
two or three places, then just stumbled upon the right 
place. 

It is like choosing a new hat or garment. You like 
that one, but this one is more becoming. You sud- 
denly see something else quite different — hesitancy is 
over; the unconscious Ideal is found. 

The house was long and low and white, standing at 
the end of the road, facing a somewhat neglected, old- 



A PROFITABLE HOME 15 

fashioned flower garden, which verged into five acres 
of orchard bounded by a river. The man who was 
driving me didn't know to whom the place belonged. 
I got out, looked in at the windows, made out that 
there was a wide hall through the centre and two big 
old-fashioned fireplaces and a lot of odd cupboards. 

Outside there was a wood-shed, summer kitchen, 
small smoke-house, barn, cow shed, corn-crib and 
chicken house. My original destination was forgot- 
ten. I was driven back to the station ; found out who 
the owner was, and where he lived ; drove over there, 
and ascertained that the house contained four large 
rooms and one small one, kitchen, pantry and two cel- 
lars downstairs, and five rooms and an attic upstairs. 

There are one hundred and eighty acres of land or 
more, but the landlord would divide it to suit good 
tenants, which he evidently thought we would, be, for 
subsequently we arranged to take the house, buildings, 
orchard, twelve acres of farm land and four acres of 
woodland on a three years' lease, at a rental of fifteen 
dollars a month, with the privilege of taking the re- 
mainder of the land at any time during our tenancy 
for an extra five dollars a month, and an option of 
purchase. 

Really, it seemed too good to be true, for it was 
within the prescribed distance from the city and depot, 
the price of commutation being only six dollars a 
month. The river, the old-fashioned garden with its 
two great catalpa trees shading the house, and the 
beauty of the surrounding scenery, made it almost a 



5 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

realization of bur ideal home. Thankful joy filled 
Dur hearts even before we had experienced the glori- 
ous invigoration of an industrious outdoor life on the 
farm, where each day brings some new interest. 

All our goods and chattels, including two cats and a 
canary, were packed in two vans, which took them the 
entire twenty-eight miles for thirty dollars. A kitchen 
stove cost thirty-five dollars; three wash tubs, four 
lamps and a few necessary tools absorbed another 
twenty-five dollars; and the last ten of the hundred 
dollars was spent in straw matting, which we divided 
between two bedrooms. 

Of course, I had to start at the very bottom of the 
ladder, buying only with the money that I could save 
from week to week from my housekeeping allowance. 
A few hens, a few ducks, gradually through the poul- 
try family, then an incubator and brooder, to the dig- 
nity of a horse and cow; after whose acquisition, the 
home became self-supporting, the third year showing 
a surplus profit. 

Of course, there were difficulties and troubles to be 
overcome, but they were all the direct result of my 
own ignorance. A friend well posted in country- 
home making, from whom I could have acquired vi- 
carious experience, would have prevented most of 
them. Hence my desire to pass on to practical lessons, 
learned during the last sixteen years, for the benefit of 
other women. 

Our old-fashioned white house and shady garden 



A PROFITABLE HOME 7 

might not appeal to every one, but no matter what 
individual taste may demand in architecture and en- 
vironment, there are certain points which must be 
observed to insure the health and happiness which we 
all desire. The house must be on high ground, with 
good subdrainage. How to be sure of the latter point 
puzzled me, until an old real-estate man, in answer to 
my praise of a place we were passing, said : 

" Handsome ? Yes, but it is a death trap. Dig a 
hole six feet deep anywhere around the house, and in 
twelve hours there will be water at the bottom of it." 

Needless to say, this place was not on his list, but 
the hint was a good one and has been remembered. 
iWet meadows and spring ponds may give no anxiety, 
but stagnant water is dangerous, for it breeds mosqui- 
toes and malaria. Fortunately, it is generally easily 
abolished ; an able-bodied man with a shovel can usually 
dig a gutter to some near-by fall in the natural grade 
of the land that will drain it. Mosquitoes were one 
of our troubles for two years; then three hours* work 
banished their breeding-ground. 

As it is a permanent home, and not a summer camp, 
which is being selected, shelter from cold winds is 
important. The woodland on our place protected 
barns, house and orchard. If there is no natural wind- 
break, and the place is satisfactory enough otherwise 
to make you contemplate buying it in future, it will 
be wise to plant out quick-growing trees, which usually 
can be bought for little or nothing in the country, and 



8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

transplanted when quite a good size. Inexpensive 
country houses do not have furnaces, and like us, you 
may not be able to afford one for a year or two. 

We found that two large stoves, with the pipes ar- 
ranged to pass through the ceiling and into radiators 
in the rooms above, and thence into the chimney, would 
heat four rooms. The pipe of the kitchen range can 
be utilized in the same way. Stoves with cracks and 
poor fire bricks waste fuel and warmth, so don't try 
to economise on stoves. 

iWe have always used an open hearth in the living- 
room, because it looks so cheerily comfortable, and a 
door at the opposite end of the room opens into the 
dining-room, allowing the air from there to come in, 
and so preventing the cold backs which are the usual 
drawback of a picturesque open fire. 

One of the joys of depending on stoves is being able 
to regulate the heat in each room to meet all conditions. 
Our apartment in town was of the better class, yet just 
as surely as an extra cold snap arrived, so surely did 
the heating apparatus get out of order. Another 
horror was the " kling-kling " of the pipes in the dark, 
uncanny hours of the morning, when every well-regu- 
lated human being ought to be allowed to sleep in 
peace. 

Having plenty of wood, we used what are called 
" air-tight chunk stoves " instead of coal, excepting 
in the kitchen. And truly we have never experienced 
any trouble in keeping the entire house hot in the bitter- 
est weather. But we took precautions, such as keeping 



A PROFITABLE HOME 9 

the putty around the window panes in good order. 
We used sandbags on the ledges, mats at the doors, 
and red building paper (which has no odor) or several 
thicknesses of newspaper under the floor covering. 
Then we opened most of the windows for a few min- 
utes every morning, and let in fresh air. 

People rave about the pleasures of the country in 
summer, but I think city folks more thoroughly realise 
the joys of a country home in winter. We found 
something delightfully restful about the crackling log 
fire on the open hearth, around which the whole family 
could gather. There is a " hominess " about it that 
can't be found by the side of a steam radiator. And 
could any specialist prescribe a better panacea for a 
business man's overwrought nerves ? There, I am let- 
ting my enthusiasm for country pleasure interfere with 
the practical help I set out to give. And even now the 
joys of skating, sleighing and tobogganing have not 
been cited. 

Making the home comfortable in hot weather is a 
very simple matter. A house has four sides — one for 
each point of the compass — so open windows and 
doors, and catch whatever breeze there is. Wire 
screens are cheap; besides, care in not allowing gar- 
bage and water to stand around the premises will 
mitigate flies and mosquitoes. 

If fate or your fancy has settled you in a new place 
minus old trees to shade the lawn and porch, wire net- 
ting and wild cucumber vines, which grow very rap- 
idly, will furnish a substitute. For keeping provisions 



lo MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

I found a well-ventilated cellar better than the best 
refrigerator. We take out the windows and replace 
them with two thicknesses of flannel, which are thor- 
oughly saturated with water. At noon time on a hot 
day evaporation lowers the temperature several de- 
grees, yet the current of fresh air is not obstructed, as 
it would be with closed windows. 

Well or spring water is usually refreshingly cool, so 
an ice house is really not imperative, though I recom- 
mend building a small one if the farm provides good 
ice, for it is an inexpensive building to construct, rough 
boards, sawdust and the ordinary handy man's labor 
being the only requirements. We did not have one 
for several years, but then we had a spring-house with 
a stone floor and shelves, and a wide gutter running 
all around, through which the water from the spring 
was conducted, keeping the place almost icy. 

Modern improvements are never to be found in in- 
expensive country houses, so we found that a bath- 
room or some means of taking an all-over scrub would 
have to be constructed immediately. We bought a 
full-sized tin bath tub with a wooden bottom for about 
seven dollars, and placed it in the little room off the 
kitchen. A piece of rubber hose was bound tightly to 
the escape pipe of the bath tub, and carried through 
the wall out into a box drain, thence to a barrel ten 
feet from the house, which had no bottom, and was 
sunk into the ground. From there, of course, the 
water seeped into the subsoil and disappeared. 

We thought it was very fine indeed at first, but later, 



A PROFITABLE HOME ii 

when our ideas and finances broadened, we replaced it 
with a porcelain enameled tub and wash bowl, with 
properly soldered waste pipes into a tile-drain sink 
three feet deep, to prevent freezing. 

A pump over the kitchen sink had been the only- 
water supply, but as that was drawn from a splendid 
spring several feet above the level of the house, we 
determined, when investing in a new bathroom out- 
fit, to stretch the purse strings a little further, and 
put in hot and cold water. A waterback was attached 
to the kitchen stove, and a sixty-three-gallon boiler 
attached. It cost twenty-two dollars and seventy-five 
cents. The bath and basin cost thirty-eight dollars. 
Fifty feet of one-and-one-half-inch pipe, seven dollars 
and fifty cents. One hundred feet of half-inch pipe, 
six dollars. Waste pipe, two dollars. Labor, twenty- 
two dollars. 

When a spring is not conveniently situated, an iauto- 
matic ram and a cistern will have to be used, and I am 
told that they would cost about seventy dollars more. 
Even with the new arrangement of the bathroom, we 
retain the earth closet, which had been bought some 
time before, at a cost of twenty- five dollars. It stands 
with its back to the outer wall, through which a trap- 
door was cut, to permit the removal and replacing of 
pans and earth. This is undoubtedly the most inex- 
pensive and sanitary contrivance with which a country 
house can be furnished. 

The next comfort was a telephone, which cost only 
eighteen dollars a year, including local calls, long-dis- 



12 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

tance calls, of course, being extra charges. That, with 
the rural delivery and daily paper, brings us stay-at- 
homes in touch with the great doings of the world 
and the little interests of our friends. 

We deserted the city in March, but experience has 
taught me that the fall is the best time of the year in 
which to migrate. There are not so many people look- 
ing for country places; the days are bright and cool, 
the roads in good condition, and there is much that 
can be done in the garden and orchard to facilitate 
next spring's work. By starting poultry in the fall, 
one can have broilers ready to catch the early spring 
prices. Moreover, it is the early chick that will make 
a good layer the following winter. 

In the following chapter we will carry the house- 
keeping into the poultry yard, for that is the best start- 
ing point for a self-supporting home. 



POULTRY 

AS poultry was the stepping stone whicH enabled 
me to reach the haven of a self -supporting 
home, I naturally consider it the best founda- 
tion on which a city woman can build her expectations 
of rural prosperity. I suppose — and I certainly hope 
— that every woman won't have to begin with just 
two or three birds, as I did; but those who may have 
to, should find my first six months' experience com- 
forting. 

Twenty-one mongrel hens were bought in three de- 
tachments, costing fifty to seventy-five cents each. 
They were nearly all old ladies with strongly de- 
veloped maternal instincts, who delighted in sitting on 
eggs and brooding chickens, so we managed to rear 
one hundred and forty-eight chickens. We had from 
three to four eggs a day for the table, because we 
desired to keep only White Wyandotte hens in the 
future, and eggs for hatching were bought from a 
near-by farm, and cost altogether six dollars, feed for 
six months cost four dollars, making a total outlay of 
twenty dollars and fifty cents. Ninety chickens were 
sold as broilers, realising twenty-two dollars, so the 
actual cash profit was only two dollars. 

But there was an increase in stock to fifty-eight 

13 



14 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

pullets, all worth at least one dollar and fifty cents by 
the end of the sixth month. By November 226. they 
were all laying, the average number of eggs being 
twenty-five a day, when strictly new-laid eggs were 
bringing from thirty-five to fifty cents a dozen, a 
record which I think truly justifies me in recommend- 
ing Biddy as the pioneer factor in economical home 
making. Even well-bred, industrious hens must have 
good conditions and care to be profitable. 

There are innumerable breeds and varieties of 
breeds, the most popular at present being Plymouth 
Rocks, Barred, Buff, and White Wyandottes, Silver- 
Laced, White, Buff, Golden, Partridge, and Black; 
Rhode Island Reds, which have a plumage somewhat 
similar to the old-fashioned game bird, and vary only 
in having both rose and single combs ; Minorcas, Black 
and White; Andalusians, about the shade of a Maltese 
cat, single combs; Leghorns, Black, Brown, Buff, 
Duck-Winged, Silver, and White. 

Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds are very 
good birds and probably the latter would be my selec- 
tion, if anything could persuade me to desert White 
Wyandottes. The chicks of the three foregoing are 
all strong and easily reared, but the Wyandottes make 
plump broilers at a slightly earlier age, maturing per- 
haps a week or two earlier than the others, which are 
equally good roasters. I do not know that there is 
any material difference in their egg-producing capaci- 
ties. 

Leghorns, Minorcas and Andalusians are much 



POULTRY IS; 

smaller birds and are considered to be the egg ma- 
chines of the hen family; but observation has con- 
vinced me that they fall far behind the three heavier 
breeds quoted during severely cold weather, when egg^ 
are most valuable. Hence I always recommend 
Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds or Plymouth Rocks 
for general utility in the vicinity of New York or 
further north, and the Leghorns, Minorcas and Anda- 
lusians for the Southern states, especially when eggs 
are the only consideration, and the birds can have free 
range. One of the great drawbacks to the latter birds 
is their ability to fly or climb over fences of almost 
any height, while the 'Dottes, Rocks and Reds are 
easily controlled in yards that are not over four feet 
in height. 

Whichever individual fancy or environment decide 
you in keeping, be advised by one who has bought her 
experience: Don't attempt more than one breed at 
a time, and shun a mixed flock of nondescripts, for it 
would tax the perspicacity of a Solomon to feed cor- 
rectly a tribe of mongrels. 

Of course, by pure-bred birds I don't necessarily 
mean expensive prize winners. That would be foolish 
extravagance. But all large poultry plants have what 
are termed " market stock " for sale in the fall — the 
progeny of aristocrats, but lacking some necessary 
point for show-room honours. Such birds can be 
bought for about a dollar and a quarter each, and will 
answer every practical purpose. 

Male birds need not be bought until about three 



i6 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

weeks before the eggs are wanted for incubation. 
Then, if your choice should have been Wyandottes, 
Plymouth Rocks or Rhode Island Reds, each flock of 
seven hens should be headed by a cockerel. Leg- 
horns, Minorcas and Andalusians can run fifteen hens 
to a flock. The male bird should be as good as you 
can afford, for by such means you can gradually im- 
prove your stock, until it reaches perfection. It is 
safer to buy the cockerels from breeders far distant 
from the original home of the hens, to avoid any dan- 
ger of relationship. 

Whenever new birds are bought, segregate them for 
a few days in some small house and yard, tO' assure 
yourself that they are healthy and fit associates for 
your birds. Catch the birds, one by one, each night, 
while in quarantine. Hold by the feet, the head 
down, and saturate the feathers with some good insect 
powder from an ordinary 'flour dredger. 

The poultry house should be whitewashed about 
every six weeks in hot weather, and as late and early 
in the fall and spring as the weather will permit. 
Scatter dry earth or sand on the platform; clean and 
renew every day. Once a week paint the comers of 
nests, roosts and any other fixtures or roughly spliced 
joints in the building with kerosene oil and crude 
carbolic acid, mixed in the proportion of one pint of 
oil to half an ounce of carbolic. Leaves or what- 
ever scratching material may be used on the floor 
should be raked out once a week in hot weather. All 
cleanings should be put into a heap under shelter, or 



POULTRY 17 

into barrels, for poultry droppings are invaluable fer- 
tilizer for the vegetable garden. 

Dry, cold weather doesn't hurt the hens at all, but 
after winter rains or heavy snow they should be con- 
fined to the house, and unless the weather is excep- 
tionally inclement, all the windows thrown open 
between 9 a. m. and 2 130 p. m. Very stormy days 
we keep them open only while the hens are busy 
scratching for the noon supply of com. 

It is the industrious, busy hen that produces the 
most eggs, so the first consideration is to keep the flock 
busy. We promote exercise by having the small yards 
at the back of the houses repeatedly dug up during the 
spring and summer. In the autumn the dry, falling 
leaves are collected, and used on the floors of the 
houses during bad weather. Fresh, cold water is 
kept constantly before them in stone vessels in sum- 
mer, and in a padded-box arrangement in winter. 

Boxes of clean, dry soil are placed in sunny spots in 
the house, to encourage the birds to take the dust baths 
in which they delight. Hens, having no teeth with 
which to chew their food, are dependent on grit to 
perform the ofiice of mastication after the food has 
passed into the bird's gizzard, where a sort of grind- 
ing process takes place, which reduces hard com to a 
digestible compound. Being near a stone crusher, we 
buy the fine gravel by the load. Those not so fortu- 
nately situated will find a specially prepared mixture 
at any poultry-supply store, or the small flock can be 
supplied by smashing broken crockery and glass into 



i8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

pieces about the size of hemp seed. Oyster shell is a 
very poor substitute for grit, its value being the lime 
it supplies for the formation of shell. 

Fowls are better off kept in yards; in fact, they 
must be so restrained if the highest egg records are to 
be reached. In way back times, it was considered a 
great detriment to yard fowls, but for some years past 
professional poultry-keepers have yarded their fowls, 
because they found it was the only way to reach the 
top notch. Even now the general farmers still adhere 
to the free range idea, and I am convinced that it is 
not purely because they think it necessary, but it saves 
feed and other bother. It has been estimated that a 
flock of common dunghill hens, such as are seen in the 
average farm, lay in a year less than a hundred eggs 
each. The figures are eighty to ninety. Farmers 
who have become breeders, and who thus give the hen 
decidedly more consideration, and still adhere to the 
free range system, have increased this yield to one 
hundred and fifty and better. Breeders who have fol- 
lowed the strictly up-to-date methods, and have 
yarded their layers, have obtained an average of one 
hundred and seventy-five eggs, and some have even 
reached the two hundred mark. 

Please note that I say fowls or hens, and I do not 
mean this to include growing chicks. The line must 
be distinctly drawn between the two. The range can- 
not be too extended for growing stock. What we 
strive for in growing chicks is frame, on which later 
we intend to put flesh. This frame can only be built 



POULTRY 19 

by food, and plenty of it, converted into bone and 
muscle by exercise. After the chick has made the 
frame, we can safely yard her and put on the flesh, 
and thus convert her into a money-earning machine. 

The advantages gained by yarding stock are mani- 
fold. First of all, by confining stock to a certain 
space, we are sure they eat the food provided and in 
the quantity we mean them to have. Feeding layers 
to produce eggs is becoming every year a more deli- 
cate operation. Formula after formula is tried by 
different breeders, as an experiment, with the hope of 
increasing the tgg yield. If we can force each hen to 
lay ten a year more, it means a considerable increase 
of the total of the flock, and a better return in dollars 
and cents to the breeder. Yarding stock is a means 
toward this end. The food fed is converted, as we 
mean it to be, into eggs, and not into muscle. It is 
decidedly more troublesome to care for stock in this 
way, and necessitates additional labour and expense, 
but we are looking for the increase all the time, and 
are thus continually hoping to be compensated for the 
extra trouble. 

Fowls in yards must be supplied with everything 
they require, which means, all they would naturally 
seek if running at large. This includes, besides the 
grain we feed by formula, green food, meat, a scratch- 
ing place and dusting spot, and grit and water. Of 
all these I consider green food the most necessary, 
and the one thing to be impressed upon the mind, be- 
cause it is the one thing too often forgotten. Green 



20 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

food of any variety is acceptable. The ideal yarding 
of fowls is what is known as double yarding — a 
house in the middle and a yard on each side. These 
yards can be sown with rye or oats, and alternated so 
that the fowls will have a constant green run as long 
as the rye or oats will grow, which is until frost. 
Failing the double yard system, green food may be 
supplied by lawn clippings, whole cabbage, clover hay 
or sprouted oats, fed in a variety of ways. Turning 
up the ground of the yards with a cultivator or by 
shallow ploughing, will bring the worms and bugs 
within reach, or sheep heads cut open and fed raw can 
be thrown in, and this is an ideal meat food. Ground 
beef scraps may be mixed in mash — and last, and 
probably the best, cut green bone. 

Yarded fowls need exercise. It must not be under- 
stood that because they are confined they do not get 
exercise, or as much as if let run at large. The yards 
should be at least one hundred and fifty feet long, if 
they are the width of the average coop, which is ten 
to twelve feet. Some breeds are decidedly more 
active by nature than others; for instance, the Leg- 
horns as compared to the Cochins or Brahmas. This 
does not afifect the health of the fowls particularly. 
A Leghorn is no healthier because of her activity than 
a Cochin is. It is simply the difference in their 
natures, but because of this excess of activity of one 
breed over another, the one must have more room 
than the other. The Leghorn stands the confinement 
of a coop ten by twelve feet in winter, provided she 



POULTRY 21 

can be kept actively hunting for her food; but the 
same bird would mope and become out of condition 
if confined too long in an exhibition coop in a show 
room. On the other hand, a Cochin, being of a lazier 
nature, forages slowly, and wanders quietly over her 
yard, takes things easy in the winter coop, and stands 
the confinement of the exhibition coop excellently. 

The foraging nature of any breed can be killed by 
excessive feeding. Even birds with free range, if 
overfed at special meal hours, will take but limited ex- 
ercise, exactly as those treated the same way and 
yarded. Exercise is induced by short feeding. In 
other words, no laying strain should be fed all they 
can eat except at night. Hunger induces exercise, 
whether a fowl be let run or yarded. Therefore, 
fowls fed short and induced to hunt for more, will lay 
eggs, while those overfed, in the morning especially, 
will sit around moping in the sun, and convert the 
food into flesh instead of eggs. 

Another advantage of yarded fowls is the certainty 
of finding all the eggs laid every day, and then being 
able to guarantee them as strictly fresh. This is a 
point of great importance, and constitutes the differ- 
ence between eggs produced by an up-to-date breeder 
with yarded fowls, and those sold by the " honest '' 
farmer who collects them wherever found, and cannot 
swear that they were laid to-day, not two weeks ago. 

The wise poultry keeper will not delay getting 
things in order for the breeding season. New blood 
is necessary to keep up the vigour of the flock. Buy 



22 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

the best male bird you can afford. The rooster is 
more than half the flock. A good bird will grade up 
young stock next spring. Remember even if you 
have pretty good birds of your own rearing, there is 
danger in inbreeding for more than one season. 

Select only the largest, brightest hens for the breed- 
ing pens. Reject any which have shown signs of ill- 
ness at any time of their lives. The eggs are the main 
point; only the best layers should be selected. From 
seven to twelve birds are enough for one flock. If 
you haven't the coops, or a long house divided into 
compartments with accompanying yards, and can't 
divide your birds into small flocks, adopt the alter- 
nating plan. Keep several male birds in a house and 
yard separated from the hens, and let only one run 
with the hens at a time, alternating them every day or 
every week, according to the number of hens. For 
example, if I were compelled to keep fifty hens in one 
flock, I would keep seven male birds, and let each one 
in turn run one day with the flock, rather than allow 
three or four birds to remain with the flock all the 
time. 

Now is the time to overhaul things. There is no 
opportunity when spring comes, for then there is al- 
ways a rush, and you will bring trouble on yourself 
by using coops which haven't been properly cleaned, 
or which have no fastenings, or have broken hinges or 
leaks in the roof. The boys want something to amuse 
them during the winter evenings; get them interested 
in showing off their mechanical skill by making feed- 



POULTRY 23 

hoppers and drinking- fountains. Self-feeding hop- 
pers save a great deal of food, especially round brood 
coops. They prevent the grain being spilled or tram- 
pled into the ground or spoiled by thunder showers. 

The brand of tea which we use in the house comes 
in square pound tins, and these we convert into self- 
feeders by cutting out two inches of the front an inch 
from the bottom, and fitting a sloping false bottom 
inside. Any handy boy can look at the picture of a 
self-feeder in a catalogue, and make one that will be 
just as serviceable. Pound baking powder cans can 
have a hole the size of a pea cut about an inch from 
the top, and when filled with water and turned upside 
down in a two-inch tin pan make capital little drink- 
ing-fountains for brood coops, and cost only five 
cents for the dish, so there is no excuse for not having 
plenty of them, and they save chicks getting drowned 
or the water getting defiled, which is usually the case 
when open dishes are used. Having all the little 
things ready and in order counts for a lot in the spring, 
when everyone has more work than he can comfort- 
ably do. 

At least two-thirds of the letters I receive are about 
" mysterious " cases, nearly all of which are due to 
the presence of vermin in the houses. Most of the 
women who write seem to be horrified when they find 
their hens infested by such pests, but my experience 
has been that it is the nicely-kept, presumably clean, 
house and flock which is apt to be the worst. Why, 
is a puzzle, unless it is that women are apt to keep 



24 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

their fowls' home so tidily clean that one never thinks 
of hidden troubles, and for that reason the house and 
flock are never drastically attacked, as they should be, 
with eradicators and preventives. And, naturally, 
the hidden pests multiply undisturbed, and infest the 
whole place before their presence is suspected. 

Few people know that there are any number and 
variety of pests which are difficult to discover because 
of other secretive habits. For instance, there is the 
depluming scab mite, which is a very minute, vicious 
pest, that often causes hens to be accused of feather- 
pulling, when in reality the poor things are only trying 
to rid themselves of intruders who cause them positive 
torture. When a bird is noticed to have bare places 
on neck or back or body it is well to catch it and pull 
out one of its feathers near the bare spot. Ten to 
one you will find a scaly collection near a quill. Rub 
it off on to a sheet of paper, and examine it under a 
magnifying glass, and you wall discover that every 
grain that looked like dandruff is a living mite. An- 
other tiny atom, which buries itself under the skin of 
fowls' legs, causes itself to be known as " scaly legs." 
Many of the mysterious deaths can be traced to an- 
other variety of the same family which attacks the 
air-passages of the bird's throat, and occasionally 
reaches the lungs. The affected bird gets drowsy, 
mopes about for a few days, and at last dies from 
suffocation, and people wonder what has been the 
trouble. Then there are three varieties of fleas, so 
dark in colour that they look almost black, which live 



POULTRY 25 

in the soil, or in cracks and crevices of the poultry- 
houses, and sally forth when hungry to feed on the 
poor defenceless hen. One species of these crawls, 
instead of hopping like the ordinary flea, so people 
frequently make the mistake of thinking that it is a 
plant insect which will not molest poultry. It is all 
these unsuspected visitors which attack poultry at 
night, rob them of their vitality, and the poultryman 
of much of his profits. 

Long ago, when I first started my poultry plant, I 
found a recipe for liquid louse exterminator and a 
worm powder published in some magazine recom- 
mended by Dr. P. T. L. Woods, the great poultry 
expert. The liquid is easily made, and very cheap. 
Dissolve crude naphtha flakes in kerosene oil. Moth- 
aline and naphtha camphor are two preparations put 
up in packages, which can be bought at any drug 
store, and would do as well as the flakes, if you have 
any difficulty in getting them. A Boston firm puts 
up a preparation with aromatic naphthalens and cam- 
phor, in packages which cost twenty-five cents, and 
is very good. One package dissolved in two gallons 
of kerosene makes a good mixture to spray house, 
nests and roosts. For the birds themselves, paint the 
inside of a box with the liquid, and keep a bird in 
it for from fifteen to twenty minutes. I had a box 
made with a compartment one foot square, so that we 
could treat six birds at one time. Near the top of 
each compartment there is a hole large enough for the 
bird to put his head through, and outside we put a 



26 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

trough which is shghtly raised from the ground, so 
that the birds can just reach the contents. Fill it with 
small grain, and they keep busy most of the time, 
wdiich insures their not being smothered, and their 
necks passing through the hole prevents the fume of 
the wash escaping too rapidly. Of course, someone 
must remain and watch the birds all the time; other- 
wise there is the danger of the bird pulling its head 
in and being suffocated. To be sure that the bird is 
perfectly clean, fumigation should be repeated three 
times, with an interval of three days after each. If 
houses are kept clean and all new birds are thoroughly 
fumigated before they are turned into the flock, it will 
not be necessary to attack the whole flock more than 
once or twice a year. Nests for setting hens are al- 
ways swabbed out with the mixture, and brood coops 
get a dose once a week. As soon as any hen shows 
signs of, getting broody, she is dredged with powder, 
which is well rubbed down into the " fluff " of the 
"feathers; then on the tenth and nineteenth days she is 
again well powdered, and from the time the chicks are 
a week old she receives a dose of powder once a week 
as long as she broods them. The recipe for the insect 
powder is as follows: 

To one peck of freshly slaked lime add half an 
ounce of carbolic acid. Mix very thoroughly, and 
add same quantity, in bulk, of tobacco dust. Another 
powder recommended by Dr. Woods in the same arti- 
cle, and which I have used very frequently, is made 
by mixing equal parts of finely-sifted coal ashes and 



POULTRY 2^ 

tobacco dust, then moisten the whole with the liquid 
louse exterminator. Allow it to dry and it is ready for 
use. When purchasing carbolic acid, ask for ninety 
per cent, strength, otherwise they are very likely to give 
you a much weaker preparation, fit only for medical 
use. 



THE SITTING HEN AND THE INCUBATOR 

LOOKING back over the memories of my farm 
initiation, it seems as if I had not fully real- 
ised the possibilities of my new undertaking 
until the first incubator was inaugurated. As I have 
already told you, I did all the first year's hatch under 
hens, and still set every hen that evinces any desire to 
assume the cares of motherhood, because it seems Na- 
ture's plan to keep the egg machine in good working 
order. If a broody hen is not allowed to sit, it takes 
several days of incarceration to break up her desire, 
then several days more after she is freed before she 
commences to lay, and invariably the sitting fever will 
attack her again within a few weeks. Now, incuba- 
tion takes only three weeks; brooding of chicks, an- 
other four or six weeks, and Mrs. Biddy has had a 
complete rest, followed by vigorous exercise while 
scratching for her babies. So when she is returned to 
the yard she is in perfect condition to produce eggs. 
Let Biddy sit whenever she wants to, but don't wait her 
pleasure in the early spring, for you might have no 
young chickens to sell when they bring good prices. 

THE SELECTION OF THE INCUBATOR 

There are a great many Incubators on the market, 
some heated by hot air, others by hot water. If you 

29 



30 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

select any one of the standard makes advertised you 
will get a good, practical hatcher. Printed instruc- 
tions for setting up and running are sent out with every 
machine, but they don't emphasise all the important 
points quite strongly enough for amateurs. Lots of 
people can't drive a screw home accurately, and fail 
to realise that if the head is slightly to the right or left 
it throws the fixture which is being attached to the ma- 
chine out of plumb, and a hair's breadth makes a dif- 
ference when such delicate appliances as thermostatic 
rods (the power which controls the heat), are con- 
cerned. A blunder supplies much knowledge. I 
should never have realised the necessity for absolute 
exactness if one of the screws used in attaching the 
lamp support to our second incubator had not gone 
slightly awry. It caused the chimney almost to touch 
one side of the socket into which it fits. That, in turn, 
drew the flame to one side, and caused it to smoke 
at night when turned up for extra heat. It was a very 
little blunder, apparently, but it almost spoiled the in- 
cubator, and quite spoiled the hatch. 

To be sure that the incubator fixtures are plumb, 
use a spirit level, the only safe guide. After starting 
the machine, practise running it for a few days before 
putting in the eggs. When the heat reaches one hun- 
dred and two and one-half degrees, with the escape dial 
hanging the width of a match from the opening, put in 
the trays, which, being cold, will lower the heat, and 
should close the dial until the trays become wann, and 
the thermometer in the machine again registers one 



SITTING HEN AND INCUBATOR 31 

hundred and two and one-half, when the dial should 
once more be dangling the match width above the open- 
ing. Should the closing and opening not take place 
as the heat varies, the machine is not properly ad- 
justed, and you must practise until it will bear the test 
before putting in the eggs. 

The thermometers are supposed to have been tested 
before they are shipped, but it is well to buy an extra 
one and compare them; or get your doctor, who is 
sure to have an accurate thermometer, to do it for you. 
The egg tester comes with the incubator. It is a tin, 
funnel-like chimney that fits over the lamp, and has a 
projecting opening, bordered with black, before which 
to hold the eggs. The first test should be made on the 
seventh day; the second on the fifteenth day. Hold 
the tgg, large end uppermost, in front of the opening. 
If it looks perfectly clear it is infertile and can be used 
to feed young chicks. If it shows a dark-red spot 
with spidery legs it is fertile, and must be returned to 
the incubator. Dead germs are rarely discernible at 
the first testing, except to the expert eye. By the fif- 
teenth, the veriest amateur will be able to detect them. 

Successful incubation depends principally on being 
able to maintain the amount of heat and moisture nec- 
essary at the different stages of development. A ther- 
mometer is furnished with most incubators, but as yet 
hygrometers are not, so it is advisable to buy one. 
For as they only cost $1.50 each, it would be penny wise 
and pound-foolish to do without one. Having these 
two little instruments to tell exactly the amount of heat 



32 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

and moisture present in the machine, simpUfies the 
work wonderfully. 

Personally, I like to have the thermometer register 
102 degrees, and the hygrometer 75, when I first put 
the eggs in the incubator. The second week, the heat 
is increased to 102^, and the moisture lowered to 70 
degrees. The third week, heat from I02j^ to 103; 
moisture not over 45 until the nineteenth day, when 
the moisture is again increased to 55 or 60 degrees. 

The reason for such fluctuation in the moisture may 
need some explanation. During the first stages of in- 
cubation it is necessary to prevent the escape of the 
water which is part of the egg, as it is needed to keep 
the albumen in the right condition for the development 
of the germ. After the tenth day, when the embryo 
is formed, the water should be gradually allowed to 
evaporate, so that the amount of air inside the shell 
increases, as it is needed to aid the circulation of the 
blood and permit the growth of the chick. Increasing 
the moisture again on the nineteenth day is simply 
done to soften the inside skin of the egg and make it 
easy for the chick to break through. 

When extra moisture is to be supplied, place a pan 
of wet sand or a damp sponge in the bottom of the 
incubator. If the machine is standing in a very damp 
cellar, the difficulty is often to keep down the moisture 
rather than to increase it. 

In this case, keep the trays out of the machine for 
a greater length of time when you turn the eggs each 
day, and open the ventilators. Probably the safest 



SITTING HEN AND INCUBATOR 33 

and simplest way to learn how to gauge this im- 
portant point of moisture, is to set a hen at the same 
time that you start the incubator, and then compare 
the development of the air-cell in the egg every few 
days. If the development is too slow, open the venti- 
lators at the side of the incubator wider, and air the 
eggs a little longer each day when you have the trays 
out to turn the eggs. Reverse affairs if the develop- 
ment is too quick. It is better to run the machine a 
degree or two above the given temperature than be- 
low it, especially during the last few days. 

After the morning of the twentieth day don't open 
the incubator until the hatch is over, or until late on the 
twenty-second day, and don't get nervous if the tem- 
perature runs to one hundred and four or even to one 
hundred and five; it is caused by the animal heat of 
the chicks, and will do them no harm. Turning down 
the lamp slightly will of course reduce the heat; but be 
very careful not to let it run below one hundred and 
three during the last twenty-four hours. Low tem- 
perature prolongs the hatch, weakens the chickens and 
makes them susceptible to all sorts of ailments. 

Individual outdoor brooders I think are the best, for 
in very cold weather they can stand in a light outhouse. 
I used to monopolise the summer kitchen from Feb- 
ruary to April, and then have them placed out in the 
orchard. Placing an outdoor brooder under cover is 
really only for the convenience of the attendant, for 
they are storm proof. If you commence with an in- 
cubator that holds one hundred and twenty to one hun- 



34 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

dred and sixty eggs you will require two brooders, and 
if in a cold or Northern locality, some small house 
which can be warmed during very cold weather, if you 
propose commencing to incubate in January. A 
brooder supposed to hold one hundred chickens will ac- 
commodate that number comfortably for about nine 
days, after which not more than fifty should be kept 
in it. Hence the necessity for two brooders. When 
the chicks are six weeks old in cold weather, and four 
weeks old in moderate weather, they can be removed 
to the small house (the temperature of which should 
be kept at sixty degrees during the night). Remem- 
ber, incubation takes only twenty-one days, so you must 
allow at least three weeks to elapse before starting 
the incubator a second time. 

Give the brooder a good coat of whitwash inside 
before using it. Cover the drum which furnishes the 
heat under the hover with two or three thicknesses of 
flannel, to make it soft for the little bodies to cuddle up 
against. Cover the floor of the hover compartment 
with a piece of old carpet or felt, and the outside com- 
partment with sweepings from the haymow. Have 
the heat running steadily at ninety-five degrees for sev- 
eral hours before the chicks are to be put into it, and 
keep it at that heat the first seven or eight days. Then 
gradually let it fall to seventy-five degrees. Of course, 
I mean the heat under the hover. The rest of the 
brooder will be — and should be — several degrees 
lower. 



SITTING HEN AND INCUBATOR 35 

THE CARE OF THE CHICKS IN THE BROODER 

Keep fresh water in vessels into whicH the chicks 
can get only their bills in the outer compartment. 
Never neglect seeing that they are all safely cuddled 
up to the heat at dusk. 

During the bright, sunny hours in the middle of the 
day let the chicks have plenty of fresh air in the play- 
room; at feeding time, when they are all busy, give 
the hover compartment a thorough airing. 

AVhen Biddy is doing the brooding, remember she is 
pretty sure to need dusting with some good insect 
powder. The nest box she sat in should have been 
cleaned, and a handful of camphor balls scattered under 
the hay of the nest. Moreover, each hen should be 
dusted before setting, twice during the twenty-one 
days, three days after the hatch is out, and each week 
so long as she broods the chicks. 

Fresh air, warmth and good food prevent many 
troubles almost impossible to cure if once contracted; 
so look to the little things. 

Thirty hours must be allowed for the proper diges- 
tion and assimilation of the yolk, which is absorbed 
into the abdomen immediately before the chick breaks 
through the shell. When Biddy has done the hatch- 
ing do not move her to the brood coop for twenty- 
four hours, unless she is flighty and keeps getting off 
the nest, in which case it is better to keep the chicks 
in a covered box by the kitchen stove until some more 
motherly hen can be persuaded to adopt them. Al- 



36 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

ways try to set two or three hens at the same time. 
Good hens that are well fed and have not been 
bothered with vermin seldom give an}^ trouble about 
the last twenty- four hours. 

HOW TO DIVERSIFY THE DAILY RATION 

Now about the all-important question of feeding: 
For the first two or three days get ten pounds of rape 
and millet seed, pin-head oatmeal and cracked corn, 
charcoal, and fine, sharp grit. Mix all together. If 
you cannot get pin-head oatmeal, buy hulled oats and 
break them up fine. The grain must also be cracked 
quite fine ; in fact, it is safer to put the mixture through 
a sieve which will allow nothing larger than millet to 
go through. Then there is no danger of chicks be- 
ing choked. Feed the mixture by scattering among the 
sweepings, to encourage the chicks to scratch and take 
exercise. 

Morning and evening make a mash by chopping a 
hard-boiled cggy shell and all, green onion tops or 
sprouts. Mix with stale bread crumbs, and feed on a 
flat pie plate or strip of wood. After the chicks are 
two weeks old the oats and corn need not be quite so 
fine — more the size of hemp seed, which can be 
added to the mixture; so can cracked wheat or barley, 
and the mash can be made of ground corn and oats, 
with onions and scalded liver, chopped, three times a 
week (about a small cupful to a quart of mash)'. 

What I mean by scalded liver is liver dropped into 
a kettle of boiling water and let boil up once. Leave 



SITTING HEN AND INCUBATOR 37 

to cool in the water. Quite raw it is too strong for 
little chicks. For a change I mix the grain with scald- 
ing milk two or three times a week. Never make more 
at a time than will be fed within the next few hours, 
as it sours. 

Pot cheese is a favourite dish with all poultry, and 
very wholesome. If there is any tendency to bowel 
trouble, give them rice water in place of the drinking 
water. 

Keep brooders and brood coops clean and dry. The 
grass around the coops should be kept cut loose, so 
that the chicks can run about easily. See that every 
coop is closed at night, and do not let the chicks out 
while the grass is dewy. Don't give the hens too many 
chicks to brood in winter, for if she cannot keep them 
close to her they will die of chill. 



RAISING EARLY BROILERS 

A DISTINCT branch of the poultry business, 
and one that is extremely profitable for those 
who can run it successfully, is raising young 
chicks in the winter for early broilers. To commence 
on a large scale requires as large capital, but there are 
hundreds of men and women who have accommoda- 
tions on their premises that would enable them to start 
in a small way, and by investing the profits from the 
first year they could obtain a really good equipment 
for the business. 

Of course, the real starting-point should be a good 
flock of healthy hens, all of one breed, preferably 
Wyandottes or Rocks, for really the hen who lays the 
egg has as much to do with the success in broiler- 
making as the care one may bestow on the business. 

Next in importance is a well-constructed new incu- 
bator. Don't be tempted to buy a second-hand ma- 
chine, which has usually been allowed to stand in a 
damp cellar or in some outside shed while not in use, 
for it will in all probability warp or go to pieces when 
put in commission again. 

Brooders come third on the list, but are quite as 
important as the two foregoing, for there is no use 
hatching a chick unless it can be reared, and the heat 

39 



4Q MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

and ventilation of the artificial mother is more than 
half the battle. 

The up-to-date broiler plant consists of an incuba- 
tor-cellar, a nursery, or brooder-house, as it is usually 
called, and a broiler-house. Both the latter are 
divided into small pens, about two feet wide and five 
feet long. In the nursery-house, the top ends of the 
pens are inclosed like boxes to the depth of about a 
foot and a half, and have hot-water pipes running 
through them to furnish heat for the chicks to brood 
under. A flannel curtain cut into strips falls from the 
top of the inclosed part to divide it from the rest of 
the pen, which runs down to the outer wall of the 
house, where a large window lets in light and sun. 
The pens should have board floors slightly elevated 
above the main floor, to avoid dampness, and the divi- 
sions are made with a foot board about nine inches 
high, and one inch netting two feet high above that. 
The brooder-house is divided in the same way, but the 
hot-water pipes only run around the walls of the 
house, as the birds don't need the immediate heat to 
brood under, after they leave the nursery, when they 
are five or six weeks old. 

But, until you can afford the proper equipment, one 
or two incubators can be run in the cellar of the house 
or an unused room where there is no other heat. In- 
dividual brooders can be used in place of the nursery 
and brooder-house, if you have any light outbuilding 
to stand them in. In fact, I like the individual 



RAISING EARLY BROILERS 41 

brooders better for the nursery period than the pipe- 
house system, because it is only necessary to heat as 
many as are needed, and with the pipe system the en- 
tire house has to be heated, even if you are only going 
to use one section. 

Most of the different makes of brooders on the 
market are made with two compartments: A cham- 
ber with a round hover, which is heated with a lamp, 
and an outer compartment for exercise and feeding. 
The average price is nine dollars, and the machines 
are supposed to hold one hundred chickens, but 
seventy- five are quite enough; and even that number 
should be decreased to fifty the second week, and 
twenty-five the fourth week — that is, if the chicks 
are to be confined entirely to the brooder. But if it 
stands in a warm room, where a small outer inclosure 
can be made on the floor of the house for a playroom, 
fifty chicks can be carried through to the squab- 
broiler age in one brooder. 

Chicks hatched specially for the broiler trade have 
to be steadily pushed along; plump, juicy meat being 
the main object. The first requisite is warmth. 
Have the compartment in which the hover is situated 
heated up to ninety-eight degrees before the chicks 
are put in and keep it so for the first three days and 
nights. Keep the door in the outer compartment shut 
for the same length of time. On the fourth day it 
can be opened and the chicks allowed to run into it, 
but the room in which the brooder stands should be 



42 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

warm, and the little ones should be watched toward 
bedtime, for they are apt to remain in the outer com- 
partment and become chilled. 

Being chilled even for a short time is fatal to young 
chicks, for if it does not kill outright, it causes bowel 
trouble and gives them a bad setback which will surely 
delay the day of marketing, if nothing worse. After 
they are three weeks old, the door in the outer com- 
partment can be opened, so that they can run out on 
to the floor of the room. Let them have plenty of 
scratching material. If the weather is fine and mild, 
it will do them good to let them have an outside run 
for an hour or two in tlie middle of the day, but don't 
be in a hurry to harden them before they are five 
weeks old, for it is a risky experiment. 

Wyandotte chickens when hatched will weigh two 
ounces. If all goes well they should gain two ounces 
during the first ten days; four ounces for the third 
week; another two ounces in the fourth week, and at 
the end of the eighth week they should weigh two 
pounds. 

The entire life of a chicken intended for a broiler 
is so artificial that few if any of the rules for raising 
ordinary chicks can be applied to them. The great 
aim is to develop them as quickly as possible, for, to 
get the best price, a broiler must grow quickly and be 
plump. 

Like all newly-hatched birds, they must have noth- 
ing to eat for the first thirty-six hours. After that 
commercial chick- feed (which is a mixture of all sorts 



RAISING EARLY BROILERS 43 

of small seeds and cracked grains)' should be their 
sole diet for ten days. 

When there are only small quantities of chicks to 
feed, and cash is of more value than time, it will be 
cheaper to mix the feed at home. Take one quart 
each of finely-cracked corn, bran and hulled oats; mix 
iwith the same quantity of golden millet, rape, Kafir- 
corn and very sharp, fine gravel, crushed charcoal 
and finely-chopped clover-hay. Mix thoroughly, then 
pass through a fine sieve, to insure there being no 
large pieces of the corn or oats for the babies to choke 
themselves with. For the three days they are confined 
to the hover department, put a small pan filled with 
the mixture in each corner and, instead of water, fill 
a small drinking- fountain with milk which has been 
scalded and allowed to cool. Leave it with them for 
ten or fifteen minutes, at morning, noon and again at 
about 3 :oo p. m. It must not be allowed to remain 
all the time, because tlie heat from the hover will turn 
it sour. 

After they are allowed access to the outer compart- 
ment, mixed grain should be scattered on the cut hay 
(or whatever is used to cover the floor)' so that the 
chicks will have to scratch which compels them to take 
enough exercise for healthy growth. The plan is to 
feed little and often. The milk can be allowed to 
stand in the outer compartment, but the fountain must 
be thoroughly cleansed and scalded every day. 

After the tenth day, the door of the outer compart- 
ment can be opened and the chicks given further lib- 



44 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

erty, if there is a stove in the building to warm the 
atmosphere; but if there is not, don't let them out of 
the brooder until they are four weeks old. In either 
case their diet must be slightly changed after the tenth 
day. Steam some of the chopped clover-hay — about 
a quart — and add one pint of coarse corn-meal, one 
pint of ground oats and half a small cupful of chopped 
liver which has been boiled for five minutes (raw 
liver is too strong for such young birds, but it should 
not be boiled more than the five minutes). Feed once 
a day at noon. Put the mash into two or three dishes, 
so they can all get a chance to eat at once. Remove 
any that is left at the end of ten minutes. If it is not 
possible to get fresh liver, use one teaspoon ful of 
beef-meal or any of the commercial meat preparations 
which are ground fine. Continue to scatter the dry 
grains three times a day. 

When they are four weeks old, give mash twice a 
day about 9 :oo A. M. and 2 :oo p. m., increasing the 
allowance of meat slightly; and if you have plenty of 
skim-milk, make cottage cheese and give it to them 
as an extra once or twice a week. From the fourth 
week keep a pan containing grit and charcoal always 
before them. After they are six weeks old increase 
the quantity of corn-meal in the mash, and corre- 
spondingly decrease the ground oats, until all corn-meal 
and no oats are being used. Also, stop steaming the 
clover and mix it dry with the other ingredients ; then 
moisten the mash in scalded milk in which suet has 
been boiled (one pound of chopped suet to four quarts 



RAISING EARLY BROILERS 45 

of milk). Boil for fifteen minutes. Feed it three 
times a day — 9:00^ a.m., 12:00 m. and 3:00 p.m. 
The last two weeks before killing, omit all the dry 
grain ; feed nothing but mash, made as before, only as 
soft as possible without being sloppy. Feed four 
times a day all they will eat in ten minutes, but on no 
account leave food before them longer than that, or 
they will become satiated. Birds pushed along should 
be in fine condition for market when from ten to 
twelve weeks old. 

Our broilers are never given water to drink, but 
always scalded milk. Scalded milk invariably checks 
any tendency toward bowel trouble and is also a strong 
factor in making the flesh tender and juicy. 



THE POULTRY- YARD IN MID-SEASON 

BABY chicks are so pretty, and appeal so strongly 
to the sentimental feeling most people have 
for infant things, that they are invariably 
well cared for until they are deposed by new ar- 
rivals, or reach the half -fledged, long-legged period 
of gawky ugliness. Then they are almost surely neg- 
lected, especially by the amateur, who does not realise 
that the intermediate stages are of paramount impor- 
tance. It is a waste of time and money to hatch 
chicks and feed hens heavily in the winter, if they are 
allowed to reach a standstill period during growth. 

When chicks are eight weeks old, they should be 
separated from their mothers, and the families di- 
vided; the young pullets being relegated to colony 
coops, in an orchard or partly shaded meadow, where 
they will have extensive free range; the cockerels be- 
ing placed in the semi-confinement of yards, as their 
ultimate fate is the frying-pan, which necessitates 
plump bodies, while free range would only develop 
frame and muscle. 

Our colony houses are six feet long, three feet 
wide, thirty-six inches high in front, and twenty-four 
inches at the back. They are made of light scantling; 
the ends, back and roof being covered with roofing- 

47 



48 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE, 

paper, and the front, to within eight inches of the 
ground, with unbleached musHn, which insures perfect 
ventilation and prevents rain beating in upon the birds 
when they are on the roosts, which are fixed a foot 
from the bottom and nine inches from the back of the 
coop. Two holes are made, nine inches apart, in the 
middle of each end of the coop, and a heavy rope 
knotted through them, to form handles. 

The coops having no flooring, and the whole con- 
struction being light, they are easily moved to fresh 
ground each week, and so kept clean with little trou- 
ble, an important item when there is a large quantity 
being used. Having a large orchard, we placed the 
coops in rows thirty feet apart, as two sides of the 
orchard adjoin woodland, through which a never- fail- 
ing spring-stream runs, so the birds have a splendid 
range. 

Twenty birds are placed in each coop. The first 
week a portable yard, five feet long, is placed in front 
of each coop so that the young chicks cannot wander 
off and get lost, as they surely would in strange quar- 
ters. During that time a self-feeding hopper and a 
drinking- fountain are placed inside of the coop. 
When the yard is removed, the individual vessels are 
dispensed with, large drinking-tubs and feed-hoppers 
being stationed midway between every four coops, to 
reduce time and labour in caring for the birds. 

The large hoppers are nothing more than boxes, five 
feet long, two feet wide and six inches deep, over 
which is placed an A-shaped cover, made of slats, one 



POULTRY- YARD IN MID-SEASON 49 

inch apart, to prevent the birds getting into the box 
and scratching the grain onto the ground, where it 
twill be wasted. For water, five-gallon kegs are used, 
with an automatic escape, which keeps a small pan 
continually full. Both feed and water are placed un- 
der a rough shelter, to protect them from sun and 
rain. Using such large receptacles, it is only neces- 
sary to fill them every other day. 

Feed consists of a dry mash, composed of ten 
pounds of wheat bran, ten pounds of ground oats, one 
pound of white middlings, one pound of old-process 
oil-meal and ten pounds of beef scraps, all well mixed. 
In addition to that, they receive at night a feed of 
wheat and cracked corn — two parts of the former to 
one of the latter. About half a pint is scattered in 
front of each coop, at about four p. M. 

Grit is supplied in large quantities. Being near a 
stone-crusher, we buy the screenings by the cart-load 
and dump it in heaps on the outskirts of the orchard, 
where it does not show, but is quite accessible to the 
chicks. 

On these rations, without any variation, the pullets 
are kept until September, when they are transferred 
to their winter quarters — houses twelve feet wide, 
ten feet high in front, sloping to eight feet at the back. 
Each house is divided by wire netting into twelve-foot 
compartments, in each of which forty birds are kept. 

Winter feeding commences as soon as the birds are 
settled in their houses, and consists of the same mash 
as when on range, except that ten pounds of com- 



so MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

meal is added, and, instead of the ten pounds of com- 
mercial beef scraps, sixteen pounds of freshly cracked 
green bone is used, and, in place of being before them 
all the time, it is fed once a day, just what they will 
eat up clean in fifteen minutes. 

Until three years ago, we used to moisten the masH 
and feed at eight o'clock in the morning. Now we 
feed it dry, at 2 p. M. ; at night, wheat, cracked and 
whole corn, scattered over cut straw, which covers 
the floor of the house. The proportions are three 
pounds of whole corn, one pound of wheat and two 
pounds of cracked corn. The birds are always eager 
for the whole corn, and, as they run about to pick it 
up, the cracked corn and wheat get shaken down into 
the litter, so they rarely get any but the whole corn at 
night, which fills up their crops and keeps them warm 
until morning, when the fine grain induces them to 
scratch — vigorous exercise, which sets their blood 
circulating and keeps them busy until 8 A. m., when 
the drinking-fountains are filled up with hot water. 

For green food we use Swiss chard, cabbage and 
rape until frost destroys the supply, after which we 
resort to clover hay, chopped and steamed. It is fed 
at about ii a. m., a large panful to each compartment, 
and at the same time a pint of wheat and cracked oats 
is scattered on the floor. Sharp grit and oyster-shells 
are always before them, and in very cold weather the 
drinking-fountains are filled up again with hot water 
at eleven and three o'clock. 

If you have no orchard, or other partly shady place 



POULTRY- YARD IN MID-SEASON 51 

for coops, it will be necessary to erect some sort of 
shelters for the birds to rest under during the heat of 
the day. Any sort of material or shape will do, so 
long as protection from the sun is afforded. If free 
range is quite impossible (as it often is for suburban 
poultry-keepers), the birds must be given as large 
yards as possible and supplied with lots of scratching 
material, over which small grain must be scattered two 
or three times a day. Fresh green bone will be better 
than the beef scraps. Vegetable food is most impera- 
tive under such circumstances. Sow a large patch of 
Swiss chard; it is a true cut-and-come-again crop. 
Oats and rape are also useful crops for poultry-keep- 
ers who can give their birds free range through the 
summer. 

A word of warning: If you are reduced to cutting 
grass, or use lawn-clippings, be careful to have them 
cut into short lengths of not more than an inch, other- 
wise the birds may become crop-bound. 

The cockerels which go into the market-pen are 
fattened and sold as quickly as possible, except the 
few we keep for stock, and these are given large yards 
and fed in the same manner as pullets on range. 

For fattening birds, use ground corn and oats in 
equal parts, add half a part of charcoal and moisten 
with skim-milk. Give plenty of green food and sharp 
grit. Feed little and often. All expedition must be 
used in the matter of marketing, for every day's delay 
after they reach the desired weight is a dead loss. 

Constant culling and marketing is one of the great 



52 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

secrets of success. Culling must be observed just as 
rigidly when selecting winter stock. Discard any 
faulty birds. There are always some in every flock, 
even if the parent birds have been blue-ribbon speci- 
mens: Crooked tails or feet, ear-lobes which are red 
instead of white, or white instead of red, according to 
the variety you may be keeping. Wyandottes, Or- 
pingtons, Plymouth Rocks, Brahmas or Cochins 
should all have bright-red ear-lobes. Leghorns, Mi- 
norcas and Andalusians should be pure white. It is a 
bright, energetic-looking pullet which makes the best 
layer, and it is not profitable to keep any but the best 
layers, so put them into small pens and fatten. The 
young roosters bring good prices in the fall, and their 
absence from the farm reduces feed-bills and prevents 
crowding in the house, which is always disastrous. 

Do not delay, after September first, in getting the 
pullets into their winter quarters, for it is most im- 
portant that they become accustomed to their new sur- 
roundings and reconciled to the change from free 
range to semi-inactivity. It often takes five or six 
weeks for them to become accustomed to the new con- 
ditions, and, unless they have time to adjust them- 
selves, they won't start laying until cold weather sets 
in, which means that the egg-crop is likely to be un- 
profitably delayed. 



JULY IN THE POULTRY- YARD 

IT is strange that few people except the real poul- 
try-farmers realise that July is one of the most 
important months in the year. The desire to 
have eggs in zero weather invariably compels good 
attention to the hens during the winter. Baby chicks 
arouse interest in the spring, but as the weather gets 
warmer, eggs are plentiful, and the pretty, fluffy babies 
developed into long, lanky creatures, who seem noth- 
ing but a nuisance specially ordained to destroy the 
garden, so the poor things are shut up in small quar- 
ters and wo fully neglected. During the fall and 
winter I am repeatedly asked how to make pullets and 
hens lay, but I can rarely suggest a remedy, because 
nine times out of ten it is the result of blunders made 
during the preceding summer. 

I don't believe in sacrificing the garden to the chick- 
ens, but I do think they should be properly controlled. 
A roll of two-inch-mesh wire netting five feet high 
costs only about four dollars. At the price of eggs 
nowadays a few dozen will pay for it. Posts can be 
cut in the wood-lot on most farms, so a yard for a 
good-sized flock can easily be made for less than five 
dollars. The best plan is to run a division fence down 
the centre, so the birds can be confined in one half 

53 



54 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

alternately, for by such means a supply of green food 
can be kept growing until frost. The ground should 
be ploughed, and seeded to rye or oats, before the wire 
is put up. If poultry is to be profitable, the old and 
young stock must be kept apart, because it is impos- 
sible to feed correctly when they are all together. 
Young birds need plenty of nutritious food to push 
them along quickly, and laying hens must be put on 
special rations to bring about early molting, which is 
the foundation of a good winter supply of eggs. 

About July 5th commence to cut down the feed 
gradually, until at the end of two weeks forty hens 
are having only a pint of oats and a pint of wheat 
mixed, night and morning. Scatter it amongst cut 
straw or some litter, so they will have to scratch for 
every grain. The first of August commence to in- 
crease the rations, and keep it up for a week, so that 
by the fifteenth they are getting two quarts of mash 
in the morning, a quart of meat scraps and a pint of 
cracked corn at noon and wheat and oats or barley at 
night. Give them just about all they will eat up clean 
in fifteen minutes. The morning mash should be 
composed of two parts ground feed (corn and oats), 
one part white middlings and one part oil-meal, mixed 
with scalding milk or water. The semi-starvation 
followed by the heavy feed forces the moulting season 
and allows plenty of time to feather out and get into 
condition before October, when their rations should 
be made up of the essentials for egg-production, which 
are clover hay, bran, wheat, corn and animal food. 



JULY IN THE POULTRY- YARD 55 

You see, it takes about three months for hens to get 
rid of their old feathers and put on a new coat, and if 
the process is not forced in some way, they will not 
commence before August, which would make it Octo- 
ber be lore they finished. Of course that would be 
time enough if it happened to be a warm, late fall, 
but if cold winter weather sets in, as it often does in 
November, hens would not lay before spring, as 
moulting leaves them in a more or less debilitated con- 
dition. 

Lots of people make the mistake of selling off hens 
as soon as they cease laying at this season, which 
means that they are usually parting with the birds that 
would make the real winter layers. Hens that lay 
through the summer, and do not cease until the fall, 
will be idle and unprofitable in the winter. It is the 
general disregard of the moulting period which causes 
so many failures in the winter supply of eggs. The 
rule should be to sell off all the hens that have been 
laying steadily through the summer and commenced 
to shed feathers in September. Growing feathers is 
a trying ordeal, and the consequence is that when the 
hen begins to moult she ceases to lay, for she cannot 
produce eggs and feathers at the same time. 

Feathers are composed largely of nitrogen and min- 
eral matter. That is why the food at moulting time 
has to be so very nutritious. To feed nothing but 
corn at such a time is simply waste, as the hen cannot 
produce new feathers from such a diet. If she is on 
free range she would have a better chance of gather- 



56 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

ing the necessary material, but even then, if the 
feathering process is delayed too long, the hen becones 
exhausted, and is susceptible to cold and all sorts of 
diseases. This is the real reason why roup and 
swelled head are so prevalent in the fall. 

Young birds hatched out in April or thereabouts 
usually commence to lay in November, because they 
have not been subject to the drain upon the constitu- 
tion caused by moulting. But chickens that have been 
hatched in February or early March are very liable to 
moult late in the fall, just when they should be com- 
mencing to lay. For this reason it is as well to 
market all the first-hatched chickens, and hold over 
those hatched late in March or through April, to in- 
crease the laying flock. 

Cull all young stock down closely. Don't keep a 
lot of young cockerels to eat up the profits during the 
winter. Even pullets which are at all backward should 
be marketed, for they won't develop after cold 
weather sets in, and it does not pay to keep them 
through for summer layers. Most of the failures 
made in the poultry business are due to people not 
having the courage to clean out non-productive birds. 
Just calculate how many quarts of feed ten growing 
birds will eat in seven months, and I think you will be 
convinced that it is unfair to expect the flock to sup- 
port them and still show a profit. The trouble is that 
people don't realise that young stock stand still as soon 
as cold weather starts, remaining almost stationary 
until spring. Another evil of keeping undeveloped 



JULY IN THE POULTRY-YARD 57 

stock is that they occupy house-room and crowd the 
older birds. 

Now is the time to wage war on vermin, while the 
bright days last; turn the hens out and have a good 
housecleaning. Use plenty of hot limewash to which 
kerosene and crude carbolic acid have been added. If 
you have two houses, crowd all the birds into one for 
a few days, and when the empty house has been thor- 
oughly cleaned, commence to catch the birds at night, 
and powder thoroughly. Use Dalmatian or the home 
made powder in an ordinary tin flour-dredger, and 
after shaking a good supply into the feathers, use your 
hands to rub it well into the fluffy parts near the skin. 
It is well to repeat the dose about three days after. 
In thus doing house and birds at the same time, you 
may be reasonably sure of having exterminated the 
pests for a few months, at least. Remember to rake 
up all the falling leaves, to be used for scratching ma- 
terial. A bagful scattered on the floor of the chicken- 
house once or twice a week will increase the egg-yield 
and keep the birds healthy during enforced confine- 
ment. 

Before I forget it, let me remind you not to feed 
new corn to the fowls. Every year, about this sea- 
son, I get quantities of letters telling of good, fat hens, 
the picture of health, which have been found dead. 
Acute indigestion, brought on by eating unseasoned 
corn, is the cause. So be careful. If your last year's 
supply has run out, it is better to buy a few bags than 
lose hens on whom you depend for winter eggs. 



S8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

Store all the cabbage or other green vegetables you can 
before it is too late. Look the house over and stop up 
all cracks and crevices. A draft from a small hole 
may give one bird a cold which may develop into roup 
and infect the whole flock, though an open- front house 
with only muslin screens may be healthy. 

About open-front houses, I don't believe in them 
for laying stock. If I were going to carry a lot of 
young birds or hens which will not lay until April, I 
might adopt the open- front house as a matter of 
economy, but not otherwise. I can't see what is 
gained by them — that is, in cold latitudes. In the 
South they are probably all right. We all know that 
the great precentage of food supplied during cold 
weather goes to keep up bodily warmth, and that if we 
expect eggs in zero weather we must supply the hens 
with sufficient provisions to nourish the body, gen- 
erate heat and allow a surplus to be converted into 
eggs. By providing tight, warm sleeping-quarters, 
we save some of the food which would be used for 
warmth in a cold house. Plenty of fresh air I do be- 
lieve in, but everything likes to be warm during the 
still, dark hours. 

I have often seen the argument used that wild birds, 
which have no houses at all, are always healthy. But 
how often do we hear about numbers of birds being 
found dead after a severe storm. What is more, wild 
birds only lay during the spring of the year. When 
man upsets Nature's laws to supply human wants, he 



JULY IN THE POULTRY- YARD 59 

should stop quoting Nature's ways. Our present-day 
hen, which lays, or is expected to lay, one hundred 
and eighty to two hundred eggs a year, is a very differ- 
ent creature from the wild hen, and she must be pro- 
vided with better food, housing and care. 

As of course you know, different food materials 
contain different qualities. Some give us the fat nec- 
essary for warmth; others, nitrogenous qualities, 
which form flesh; still others, minerals, such as lime, 
soda, etc., etc., needed for bone and muscle. All 
kinds of animals, birds, and even human beings, re- 
quire some quantity of these ingredients, otherwise 
one part of the body or nervous system will be starved, 
while another will be overfed. With the hen it is of 
great importance that she have all these different in- 
gredients well blended in her food, as she requires 
them not only to sustain her in health, but also for the 
formation of eggs. 

We will start with the foods that give the greatest 
quantity of lime, because it is needed for shell, and 
some fractional part in the white and yolk, most essen- 
tial, for it is turned during incubation into bone, the 
very foundation of the chicken. Clover hay, linseed- 
meal and wheat bran contain about six pounds of lime 
in every hundred, and turnip-tops, carrots and all 
grasses have a goodly percentage. Flesh comes from 
nitrogenous or albumenal foods, first of which are 
beef, linseed-meal, middlings, bran, clover hay, wheat 
and skimmed milk. Fat and heat we get from car- 



6o MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

bonaceous provenders, among which corn and buck- 
wheat lead, closely followed by oats, wheat, rye, clover 
hay, linseed-meal and unskimmed milk. 

Mineral matter ■ — lime, soda, potash, magnesia and 
sulphur — is principally formed by the action of di- 
gestion reducing the matter containing these ingredi- 
ents to ash. The usual troubles assailing poultry on 
most farms come from the feeding of only one of 
these elements. Poor Biddy has all flesh and no 
warmth, or all fat and no flesh. 

Kill a bird that has- been fed on corn only, and it 
will be heavy with layers of internal fat, but showing 
a very poor depth of breast-meat. Balancing rations, 
trying to equalise flesh, fat (warmth) and mineral, 
is not a very hard proposition when the values of even 
a few grains and plants are realised. 

Having read so far, you will now realise that clover 
hay, linseed-meal, bran, wheat, oats, beef scraps and 
unskimmed milk contain practically all the equivalents 
of summer foods; the addition, therefore, of corn, 
buckwheat or rye in cold weather is safe and simple if 
given only as warmth-makers. Never allow the pro- 
portion to exceed what is needed for that purpose, or 
fat will be made and stored, neutralising all your care. 
In other words, the hen fed on corn only, in order to 
accumulate the ten parts of flesh and twenty parts of 
fat needed for the tgg, will be compelled to acquire 
fifty parts more fat than she requires. 

Green bone and water now alone remain for con- 
sideration. The former is beyond doubt the best of 



JULY IN THE POULTRY-YARD 6i 

egg foods, qualifying as it does in nearly all the needed 
elements. Many farmers scoff at the idea of having 
to pay for a mill to cut up bone for chickens, yet the 
same men will not grudge a hay-cutter for the horse 
and cow. Green bone means fresh bone from the 
butcher, which can be bought for about two cents a 
pound. The mill to grind it ranges from eight to 
fifteen dollars. 

Green bone contains the natural meat, juices, blood, 
gristle, oil and mineral matter in soluble condition, 
which renders it easy of digestion, especially for birds 
— almost all the components for eggs (white, yolk 
and shell), in the most concentrated form possible. 
So, if eggs are to become profitable, the bone-mill must 
be kept going. When it is impossible to obtain the 
green or fresh bone, the ground bone sold especially 
for poultry can be used, though it is not half so satis- 
factory, because the drying process it has to submit to 
before grinding leaves little but the phosphate of lime 
and earthy matter, which clover and bran furnish in 
better form. At least half the egg is composed of 
water, surely a sufificient reason for impressing the 
importance of a generous supply accessible at all times, 
in clean dishes, of a proper temperature, cool in sum- 
mer and the chill off in winter. 



A FLOCK OF TURKEYS 

THERE are six varieties of turkeys : Bronze, 
White Holland, Bourbon Reds, black, buff, 
slate and Narragansett. But the three first 
are the ones most worth raising specially for market, 
as they are large birds and the most popular varieties. 
So it is easy to get good stock, to start with, which is 
of paramount importance. 

A trio of any one of the three varieties will cost 
from fifteen to twenty dollars, and if only twenty 
birds are reared the first year for market, they will 
bring at least sixty dollars. That is placing the aver- 
age weight at twelve pounds and price twenty-five 
cents a pound. This is, however, absurd, when you 
consider that young toms weigh twenty pounds and 
pullets fifteen, feed could not possibly cost more than 
ten dollars, which would leave thirty dollars' profit the 
first year. 

A successful turkey-raiser told me he had kept his 
birds in yards for twelve years, so I felt safe in adopt- 
ing the plan. I suppose I ought to have said in- 
closures, for they covered about half an acre each. 
The land was shaly, with a rocky background, but 
there were plenty of clumps of scrub brush and ferns, 
from the rocks to the top of the two acres they used. 

63 



64 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

The ground sloped to the south; a spot of no earthly- 
good for any other purpose, but perfectly ideal for 
turkeys. 

However, as our farm had no such place, I utilised 
a strip of poor brush land which had good natural 
drainage and made three inclosures, each one one hun- 
dred feet wide and three hundred feet long. An 
open-front shed twelve feet long and ten feet wide 
was built in each. They were just rough shelters 
built out of slabs and the only fittings were perches 
made out of sassafras poles, none of them less than 
nine inches in circumference. This is one of the im- 
portant items in fixing a place for turkeys. Being 
heavy, large-footed birds, they are uncomfortable and 
positively suffer if condemned to balance themselves 
on slight perches such as chickens use. 

It took four loads of slabs to make the three sheds, 
and they cost seventy-five cents a load at the sawmill. 
Wire netting cost forty-eight dollars, perches and 
posts were cut in our own woods, and the home help 
did the work. 

I got ten female birds from the Massachusetts farm 
for fifty dollars and two toms from Long Island for 
twenty dollars. We sent for the birds early in 
December so that they should have time to get thor- 
oughly at home in their new quarters before the laying 
season. Before they arrived, the front of the sheds 
was covered with wire netting, so that we could keep 
them shut up at first, but after two or three weeks it 
was removed and they were allowed the range of the 



A FLOCK OF TURKEYS 65 

yards. The wire around the inclosure was only four 
feet high and one wing of each bird was cut to prevent 
them flying over it. 

Early in March a half-barrel was secreted among 
the brush, in both the occupied yards, so that the hens 
would be accustomed to their appearance and, we 
hoped, consider safe hiding-places for their eggs. 
The plan answered splendidly. About the middle of 
the month we commenced to keep a lookout for eggs 
in the half -barrel and for stolen nests. When an egg 
was found, it was purloined, and a china one put in 
its place; ditto when the second egg was taken, but 
after that, no more china eggs were dropped, for two 
always seemed to satisfy Mrs. Turkey. 

Unlike common hens, turkeys are not attracted to 
a nest by an egg. In fact, they retain so much of 
the wild bird that they will not adopt a nest that has 
been used by any other bird, so never distribute nest- 
eggs as decoys, but only as substitutes for those 
abstracted. 

The matter of feeding the old birds is of great im- 
portance and is the rock most farmers founder on. 
Too often the birds are left to forage for themselves 
or, at the best, are given uncertain quantities of corn, 
which means that they are miserably thin and dilapi- 
dated or outrageously fat. In either case they lack 
the components which the egg for hatching should 
possess. Result, weak youngsters which are doomed 
to die, no matter how much care is lavished on them. 

I once heard an old poultryman say that the care 



66 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

of the chick must commence when its mother is 
hatched. This may seem ambiguous to the amateur, 
but it is literally a fact and one which my Massa- 
chusetts friend had made me imderstand was most 
potent when applied to turkeys. So our turkeys are 
fed with special reference to supplying the ingredients 
to be converted into bone and vigour in the birds to 
be. Breakfast: Chopped clover-hay, steamed over- 
night, two quarts ; corn and oats ground together, one 
quart; beef-scraps, half a pint. At noon, one quart 
of oats, Kafir-corn or barley scattered broadcast in the 
yards. At night, whole corn when the weather is 
very cold, but as it moderates in the spring the amount 
is decreased and wheat is used in its place. 

These are their regular rations from December to 
April, when the beef -scraps and corn are entirely 
omitted. Water and grit is before them all the time. 
We buy screenings from the stone-crusher and, as it 
is cheap, dump a lot into each yard twice a year. 

I generally steal the first ten eggs from each nest 
and set them under the hens. However many a 
turkey lays after that, she is allowed to keep and hatch 
them. It takes them twenty-nine days to hatch, and 
large, motherly old hens should be chosen from the 
chicken-house to do the incubating. It is not safe to 
put more than five such eggs under an ordinary hen. 

When the hatch is over, put the hen into a brood- 
coop and, in front of it, put a box about nine inches 
deep and large enough to form a yard for the babies 
to exercise in. It is, of course, necessary to remove 



A FLOCK OF TURKEYS (>^ 

part or the whole of the end of the box which joins 
the front of the coop, so that the little ones can run 
in and out. Cover the bottom of the box with coarse 
sand and put a small drinking-fountain in one corner. 
■Thus the babies will have a safe place to play in the 
first few days of infancy, when they must be kept dry. 
After that the box can be removed and the coop moved 
a few feet every day for the sake of cleanliness. 

When Mrs. Turkey's brood hatches, we treat them 
in the same way, only the brood-coop is specially made 
and is much larger than the ordinary hen-coop. The 
first feed the babies have is stale home-made bread 
soaked in scalded milk, which is squeezed out of it be- 
fore it is fed. Like little chicks, they must have 
nothing for twenty- four hours, then little and often 
must be the rule. 

Never leave food in front of little turkeys, for they 
are very apt to overeat. After two weeks they need 
only be fed four times a day; after the fourth week 
three times a day. After the first two days add a 
little hard-boiled ^gg which has been chopped fine, 
without removing the shell, and a few days later, 
pin-head oatmeal and ground charcoal; about a tea- 
spoonful of the latter to a cupful of bread and oat- 
meal. 

By the end of two weeks gradually reduce the bread 
and increase the oatmeal, which should be cooked 
about half an hour and allowed to dry out, so it is 
easily crumbled when cool. 

After the fourth week, ordinary ground oats, just 



6S MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

moistened with scalding milk, may be used. Half- 
boiled liver, chopped fine, is the best animal food to 
give. When that is not practicable, use the best 
brand of commercial ground beef, one teaspoonful to 
a quart of meal, because it is very strong and liable 
to produce diarrhea, a disease which attacks young 
turkeys almost sooner than any other young bird. 
Watch carefully and at the first evidence of any loose- 
ness of the bowels give boiled rice to eat and rice- 
water or cold tea to drink. 

Watch newly-hatched babies for a few days at feed- 
time, for there is often one or more that needs to be 
taught how to eat. This is especially so when they 
are with common hens. But a little patience in crum- 
bling close in front of them and coaxing them to pick 
it up will overcome the difficulty. After they are 
eight weeks old we take them from the hens and put 
them into the thir^ yard, which is kept exclusively for 
young stock. 

At night they are driven into the shed, the front of 
which is always kept covered with wire netting, so 
that they can be closed in until they get accustomed to 
roosting. Of course, the perches in this shed are put 
nearer the ground and are much smaller than those 
intended for grown birds. About October ist they 
are allowed the free range of the farm and are fed on 
corn at night and given all the milk they will drink, 
to get them into good killing condition before Thanks- 
giving, when they are all sold off, except perhaps a 
few extra good ones, which we may keep for stock. 



A FLOCK OF TURKEYS 69 

The old birds are also allowed free range from Octo- 
ber until February, but they are fed in the yards at 
night and are shut in so that they don't form any bad 
wandering habits. 

In buying stock, be generous and get the very best, 
from some well-known turkey-raiser. Ordinary farm 
stock is so apt to be inbred that, although the birds 
may look all right, it is not safe to buy them for breed- 
ing purposes, as a want of stamina will surely show 
in the youngsters. 

For the same reason it is best to get the hen-birds 
from one place and the toms from another. If you 
are going to keep Bourbon Reds or bronze, it is ad" 
visable to buy half-wild toms. These are the result 
of crossing wild gobblers with domestic hens, which 
is done by large breeders to infuse new blood and keep 
up the vigour of their stock. Personally, I like the 
White Holland turkey best, as they are domesticated 
and bear confinement well. 

If you are only going to keep a few birds, say a trio 
or five hens and a gobbler, large yards are not neces- 
sary, but a shed over which netting can be put, should 
always be set apart for their use, so that they can be 
fed and shut up at night. Never, under any circum- 
stances, keep any of the pullets you raise, unless you 
change your gobbler. Don't let two gobblers run with 
the flock at the same time. If you want to increase 
your number of birds, you must either put up in- 
closures or alternate the gobblers every two days. 



DUCKS AND GEESE 

DUCKS are so profitable that I cannot under- 
stand why so few keep them, unless it is the 
mistaken idea that they must have a stream 
or pond in which to swim. It is true that the old- 
fashioned puddle duck did seem a miserable creature 
out of water, but the improved strains are almost as 
much land birds as chickens are. My stock started 
with two ducks and a drake which had cost me seven 
dollars. The first season I raised fifty-eight, sold 
forty-six, and kept twelve to stock. They were ready 
for market when eleven weeks old, and the lowest price 
was eighteen cents a pound. 

Ducks must have dry, comfortable quarters, but a 
splendid house for twenty ducks can be made on any 
farm for a dollar, or even less. One man who keeps 
large flocks makes duck houses with hurdles of green 
boughs for walls and roof, the outside padded with 
leaves, straw, corn stalks or cedar boughs. Each 
house is six feet by four feet and two and one half 
feet high, and. accommodates seven ducks and a drake. 

Dry-goods boxes, costing ten cents at any village 
store, can be made comfortable for a small flock. 
The main point is to keep them dry, which depends 
almost more on the care given to the covering of the 

7^ 



72 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

floor than the wall of the house. Good, dry bedding, 
changed at least twice a week, will keep them warm 
and happy through the coldest weather. 

Ducks' eggs bring good prices during February and 
March. You can easily get them to laying by then, 
as it depends principally on feeding. Ducks, like geese 
or cattle, must have a good percentage of bulk material 
and green stuff, as well as concentrated grain feed. 
Clover hay, or even mixed hay, chopped and steamed, 
about half a pailful with a pint of coarsely ground corn- 
meal and the same of bran mixed through it, is about 
right. If hay is short, chop corn stalks small, and 
steam. Chopped vegetables of all kinds are good, but 
pumpkins, potatoes and beets are fattening; so, unless 
the weather is very cold, omit the corn when they are 
fed, using more bran or screenings in its place. 

In the summer have the children gather plantain, 
dock, groundsel or any other non-poisonous weeds. 
Have sugar barrels ready, and pack in the weeds while 
fresh. Get a heavy, solid board rounded off to fit in- 
side the barrel, put on top of the green stuff, and 
weight down with heavy stones. Pad up tight with 
paper, sawdust, straw or any loose material, and re- 
place the head of the barrel. When snow covers the 
ground, such food will increase the eggs from both 
ducks and chickens. 

Oak leaves, acorns and pig hickories do not take 
long to gather in the fall, and will tone up the appetites 
of pigs, chickens and ducks late in January, when they 
are getting tired of grain feed. 





DUCKS AND GEESE 



DUCKS AND GEESE 73 

Imperial Pekin, Rouen and Indian Runners have 
been the best market breeds of ducks for some years 
past, and are still splendid fellows, both for eggs and 
table, and their new rivals, the Buff Orpington ducks, 
quite equal them as utility birds. 

Ducks make such bad mothers that it is better to 
hatch their eggs under hens or in incubators. The 
first few eggs a duck lays each season are seldom 
fertile. Eleven are a full sitting, and it requires 
twenty-eight days for their hatching. Examine the 
nest every two or three days after setting the hen, for 
bad eggs. A weak germ that dies causes the egg to 
decompose, and the odour once smelled can never be 
forgotten. 

Examine the nest when the hen comes off to feed, 
and take away the eggs that are dark and mottled. If 
you fancy an egg looks wrong, pick it up and smell it ; 
that and its sticky touch assure you, for the egg is 
porous. If you have been using an incubator to hatch 
chicks you can test with a proper tester, and this must 
be done all the time from the fourth to the fifteenth 
day. 

When the hatch is over at the end of the twenty- 
eighth day, have ready a box about a foot deep and 
three feet long, the top out and one end taken off. 
Place the open end against the coop door, so making 
a little run, with a board floor covered with an inch 
of dry sand or earth. Baby ducks need even more 
protection from damp than chicks; therefore, if the 
weather is bad, keep the coop and run under cover, 



74 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

and if .fine, the shade of a tree is necessary, for the 
little fellows can't stand the full sun. After a week 
the hen can be removed, but keep them within bounds 
on short grass, not letting them out until the dew is 
gone. 

For twenty- four hours feed nothing. First week: 
Half a pint of rolled oats, some cracker or stale bread 
crumbs, two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, half a 
cupful of coarse sand just moistened with milk. Feed 
four times a day just what they will eat in ten minutes. 

Second and third weeks : Half a pound of ground 
oats, the same of wheat bran, one-fourth of a pint of 
corn-meal, the same of coarse sand, two tablespoonfuls 
of beef meal, a pint of finely cut green clover, rye or 
cabbage moistened with scalded milk. They must be 
fed four times a day. 

Fourth to sixth week : Boil a quart of hulled oats 
for an hour, add a pint of corn-meal, wheat bran, half 
a pint of fine grit, the same of beef scraps and a quart 
of clover or any kind of green food. Feed four times 
a day. 

Sixth to tenth week: One quart of corn-meal, a 
pint of wheat bran, a pint of boiled oats, a pint of 
beef scraps, half a pint of grit, a tablespoonful of char- 
coal and a pint of clover. Feed three times a day. 

They should be ready to kill the eleventh week. 

Do not let the ducks, young or old, get frightened 
if you can possibly help it. They are nervous things. 
No matter what you feed, if they are frightened or 
made to run daily, they will not fatten. If you go 



DUCKS AND GEESE 7g 

about tHem gently they are the easiest things to drive \ 

any distance, for where one goes, all follow; hurry : 

them and they will scatter, and it is good-bye to them \ 
for hours. 

The feed for those to be kept for stock is the same j 

up to three weeks old, but from that on one quart of j 

ground feed, one quart of bran, half a pint of grit and | 
half a pint of beef scraps. Mix moist with milk, 

water, sour milk or buttermilk, and feed night and ! 
morning. If on a free range this is all they want. 

If not, you must add clover or vegetables, and feed j 

three times a day. Remember always to have fresh, I 

clean water before them. 1 

When ducks are ten or eleven weeks old they should \ 

be in condition for market. Early green ducks should ; 

weigh not more than four and one-half pounds, while \ 

later ducks cannot be too heavy. As a rule early ' 

ducks mature very unevenly, making it necessary to i 

sort them over often. i 

Ducks are fit to dress for only a short time. They j 

" go back," as it is termed, for they shed and grow a j 

new lot of feathers, which takes all the fat and all your | 

profit. Hence the importance of turning them into J 

money as soon as possible. I 

In dressing it is most desirable to dry pick. Al- i 

though some still scald, dry-picked stock sells better | 

than scalded, especially when the market is dull, for it j 
can be frozen, while scalded stock cannot. For dry 
picking have a box for the feathers. It may be of 

any size you wish on the ground, and should be of j 



76 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

such depth that the top edge is one or two inches 
lower than your knee when in a sitting position. To 
use for cooling the ducks, saw a coal-oil barrel in two ; 
use one-half for cooling, the other half for clear water 
to put them in after washing. 

To kill, catch the feet in the left hand, and the neck 
near the breast with the right hand, then with a swing-^ 
ing motion (the same as in using an axe), strike the 
back of the head against a post with sufficient force to 
start the blood from the ears. Now with a quick mo- 
tion place the body under your left arm, catching the 
back of the head and the top of the bill in the left 
hand. Using a knife with a five-inch blade, make a 
cut crosswise at the base of the brain, then turn the 
edge to the roof of the mouth, and slash outward, be- 
ing careful not to split the bill. Let the blood run for 
two seconds. 

Sit down. Place your knees against the neck just 
tight enough to keep it in place. If too much pressure 
is put on, it will stop the flow of blood and give the 
flesh a red appearance. Hold the feet and wings in 
the left hand. Commence picking at the vent, then the 
breast and neck. The feathers are left on half the 
neck, and on the wings from the first joint out. Pick 
clean as you go, for once the duck gets cold, it will be 
hard to pick. Experts use a shoemaker's knife ground 
thin, and strop it the same as a razor, to shave the pin 
and small feathers off. 

After picking, put them into ice water or cold spring 
water until the animal heat is gone; then wash the 



DUCKS AND GEESE ^^ 

feet, and wash all clots of blood from the mouth and 
throat; then put into another vessel of water, which 
takes all the stains off and gives a nice clean appear- 
ance. After they are clean you can put them into a 
barrel or box with crushed ice, and if left for twelve 
to twenty- four hours in this condition they can be 
shipped a long distance with but little ice. To make 
dressed ducks show up good it is necessary to take 
them out of clean water at the finish. The second 
vessel should have clean water put in as soon as it gets 
cloudy. 

When packing for shipment, use flour or sugar 
barrels. Pack with back down, putting the head un- 
der the wing. Pack close, and leave a space on top 
for ice. Raise the top hoop, place burlap on top, drive 
the hoop on again, with the burlap under, and nail 
firmly. Before using, the barrel should be thoroughly 
washed. Bore two three-fourths-inch holes in the 
bottom, to drain. 

A goose will lay from ten to twenty eggs and then 
want to sit ; but if you coop her in sight of her com- 
panions, four or five days will sufifice to break her up. 
If she lays a third clutch of eggs, let her keep them 
and sit. 

When the weather is mild, set five eggs under a hen ; 
or, if she is very large, seven might be risked. It 
takes from twenty-eight to thirty days for goose eggs 
to hatch. As the skin is very tough, it is well to 
sprinkle a little water around the nest, and even on 
the eggs themselves, during the last two weeks, espe- 



78 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

cially if the weather is dry and hens are doing the 
incubating. 

The youngsters need nothing for the first thirty-six 
hours. Then feed scalded corn-meal — the coarsest 
kind — and wheat bran, chopped green clover or 
young green oats cut fine, tops of green onions, lettuce 
leaves or any tender young greens. 

If the weather is fine, put the coop containing Biddy 
and her family out on the grass, making a small yard 
in front for the first few days, to prevent their wan- 
dering too far away. Move the coop and yard to a; 
new place as they eat the grass. Like young ducks, 
their drinking water must be in a vessel that permits 
them to put the whole beak into the water, or they are 
apt tO' gQt the air passages clogged up with soft food, 
causing the gosling to smother; but on no account 
must they be permitted to get their bodies into the 
water, as they chill and cramp so easily. 

It is much better to buy two- or three-year-old birds 
from a reliable dealer for stock than obtain eggs for 
setting and wait for them to develop. After the 
breeding season is over, geese and goslings need little 
grain if on grass land. Late in the fall geese do well 
if turned into the com stubble or the orchard, where 
they will clean up all the windfalls — which does 
much to stamp out grubs and insects. 



PIGEONS AND; SQUABS 

WHEN pigeons are kept for squab-raising it is 
one of the most profitable ventures in which 
suburbanites or real country folks can em- 
bark. The young are ready for market when four 
weeks old ; the average wholesale price is three dollars 
a dozen. Private customers will pay forty cents a pair 
all through the winter months, and a good pair of 
mature birds will raise two squabs every four weeks 
for nine months in the year, which means that each 
old pair of birds should provide one and one-half 
dozen squabs, which will market for four dollars and 
fifty cents. The cost of keep is supposed to be fifty 
cents a year, but ever allowing one dollar a year, there 
should be three dollars and fifty cents clear profit. 

These estimates are made on good homer pigeons, 
iwell housed and cared for, not common nondescript 
birds, leading a half -wild existence, with only old- 
fashioned shelter behind a row of holes high up in the 
barn, where the nests are exposed to every storm ; be- 
sides which, the young of mongrel pigeons only weigh 
five or six ounces when four weeks old, and are so 
scrawny and unappetising that they are difficult to 
market at any price, whilst homers at the same age 
3^eig;h from twelve to twenty ounces, and are white- 

79 



8o MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

skinned and plump. The mature homers will cost 
about two dollars a pair from any of the recognised 
lofts, but it is no use buying elsewhere, for unless birds 
are mated pairs, you may have another season wasted. 
Pigeons are faithful creatures and remain in pairs for 
years, and if an accident happens to one of them will 
frequently refuse to mate a second time the same sea- 
son. Young birds which are only paired at the time 
of sale are likely to object to the mates chosen for 
them, and proceed to exercise personal choice when 
liberated amid a flock of strange birds. So be wise 
and buy only from reliable experienced breeders. 

The most convenient house for squab-raising is 
built like a chicken-coop, about twelve feet wide, eight 
feet high in front, sloping to six feet at the back, and 
any length, according to the number of birds kept. 
Have plenty of windows in front of the house, and 
openings six inches square, three feet apart, all along 
the back of the house about a foot from the roof. 
Run a nine-inch board the entire length of the house 
as a platform for the birds to alight on as they go in 
and out, and it is just as well to have a similar board 
just under the holes on the inside of the house. Put 
up three or four perches near the front windows, so 
that the birds can fly from side to side of the house on 
wet days for exercise. 

The number of birds which can be kept in each 
house can be easiest estimated by the nests. Each 
pair of brooders must be provided with nest-boxes 
divided into two compartments twelve inches square. 



PIGEONS AND SQUABS 8i 

They can be arranged In tiers all along the side, back 
and front walls, and from floor to ceiling. Put the 
first tier about eighteen inches above the floor, as the 
birds don't seem to like the lower nests. Fasten small 
perches about a foot long to the partition on each box, 
for the convenience of the birds as they fly back and 
forth, and when feeding their young. 

Before the house is occupied, it should be thor- 
oughly whitewashed, the floor covered with sand or 
ground plaster, and earthenware dishes known as 
" nappies," which cost one dollar a dozen, must be put 
in, one into each compartment. Suspend a bundle of 
cut hay in one corner of the house, as some birds like 
to make their own nests, though others seem to think 
that a handful of tobacco-stems, which it is well to 
place in each nappy as a check to vermin, is quite nest 
enough. 

Drinking-fountains and feeding-boxes into which 
the birds can only get their beaks are imperative for 
pigeons, for they are most particular and w^ill not take 
defiled food or drink unless positively starved into it. 
Yet if they have open feed and water boxes, they will 
scatter the contents all over the floor. There is a 
galvanised-iron feeding-box costing one dollar on the 
market which has seven openings, so that many birds 
can feed at the same time. Water- fountains of the 
same material are virtually indestructible, and cost only 
fifty cents. 

The yard and fly must of course be entirely closed 
for pigeons, and should be four feet higher than the 



82 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

front of the house, so that the birds can use the roof 
for a sun-parlour. We use four-by-four joists, cut 
into twelve- foot lengths, for the front of the house, 
as they can be nailed to the house and need not be 
sunk into the ground, as those at the side and far end 
must be. The joists for the sides and end are cut 
into thirteen-and-one-half-foot lengths, which allows 
a foot and a half to go into the ground. These meas- 
urements allow the use of four- foot netting without 
any waste. For a house twelve feet long, I think the 
yard should be at least fifty feet. Erect several 
perches at the far end of the yard, a platform about 
two feet wide and four feet long on legs three feet 
high in the centre of the yard for the bath-tubs to 
stand on. Pigeons must have a bath, for cleanliness 
is a necessity; a pan about two feet square and four 
inches deep is the best size, and they can be bought 
in galvanised iron for one dollar each. 

Red-wheat, Kafir-corn, cracked corn, Canadian 
field-peas, German millet and hemp-seed are all appro- 
priate for pigeons. They should be alternated, or one 
or two mixed together. Of course, sometimes one 
grain is cheaper than another, or easier to get in cer- 
tain districts, but don't use any one grain exclusively. 
Pigeons must have variety. 

We follow the rations recommended by W. E. Rice, 
a very experienced pigeon-raiser. Morning: Equal 
parts of cracked corn, Kafir-corn and wheat. Even- 
ing: Cracked corn and Canadian peas. These regu- 
lar meals are put into the feed-boxes in quantity 



PIGEONS AND SQUABS 83 

sufficient to insure the birds having a constant supply. 
Treats which we feed at odd times, such as millet, 
hemp and rice, are thrown on the ground, for, as they 
are only fed in comparatively small quantities, they 
are eaten up at once, and so there is no danger of their 
being soiled. Remember always to buy red, not white, 
wheat, for the latter is very apt to cause diarrhea. 

Once a week we give them a meal of stale bread 
which has been steeped in skim-milk and squeezed al- 
most dry again, for we have lots of skim-milk, and the 
bread we get from a baker in the town for twenty- 
five cents a barrel. Freight costs another twenty- 
five cents, but even at fifty cents a barrel we find it 
an economical feed when there are a lot of squabs to 
be fattened for the market. 

The parent birds take all the trouble and respon- 
sibility of feeding and raising the young right up to 
the time they are ready for market. The hen-bird 
lays two eggs, with one day intervening, which take 
eighteen days to incubate. After the eggs are 
hatched, both birds devote their entire energies to feed- 
ing the youngsters for about two weeks, for both 
have the power to secrete the predigested substance 
often called pigeon's milk, on which nestlings are ex- 
clusively fed for the first few days. At the end of 
two weeks the hen has usually laid two more eggs in 
the second nest, so that by the time the squabs in the 
first nest are ready for market, the second eggs are 
ready to hatch. It is this double family which neces- 
sitates two nests for each pair of birds. 



84 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

Cleanliness is even more imperative in the pigeon- 
house than in the hen-house. Never neglect to scald 
out the earthenware nest, and whitewash the compart- 
ment it stands in, every time squabs are removed for 
market, for it is only by such rigid system that the 
place can be kept in a sanitary condition. Pigeons 
must have shell, salt and charcoal to be healthy, so 
there should be a self-feeder with three compartments 
in each house. When ordering, specify that the 
oyster-shell is for pigeons, as it is to be broken up 
smaller than for the hens. The rock salt and charcoal 
should be ground to about the size of rice. During 
the heavy breeding season we crush most of the grain, 
and always peas, for when the parent birds are rushed 
for time between their two nests they are very liable to 
pick up whole grain and feed to the young birds before 
they are able to digest it. Until we discovered this 
carelessness, we often had a dead squab in the nest. 
The feed-boxes can be kept filled up, as pigeons never 
overeat, and must have access to food at all times 
when they have young ones to feed. 

If you start with a few pairs of birds, the best way 
to increase the number is to sell the squabs, and use 
the money to buy mature birds, for it takes pigeons 
six months to reach maturity, and it is necessary to 
have two extra houses in which to keep the growing 
birds, as they should not be allowed to remain in the 
regular brood-pen. If, however, you have specially- 
mated birds and desire to raise their progeny, you 
must watch the nests, and as soon as the young ones 



PIGEONS AND SQUABS 85 

get out on the floor (the old ones generally push them 
out when the eggs in the second nest hatch), they can 
fend for themselves, and should be removed to a 
nursery-house, where all feed must be cracked to the 
size of rice for several weeks. When one desires to 
build up size and good points, it is necessary to have 
two nursery-houses, and so be in a position to select 
the best birds from different parentage to mate. 

To illustrate: The nestlings from one side of the 
house should go into Nursery No. i, nestlings from 
the other side into Nursery No. 2. Our nurseries 
are only seven by ten feet, so we never have more than 
twenty birds in each, and they can be taken within 
a few days of each other, in this way making very 
little difference in age when it comes to mating-time. 
When the younger ones in the nurseries are between 
six and seven months old, we take a bird from each 
and put them into a mating-cage, which is really a 
coop, four feet long, two and one-half feet deep and 
two feet high, which is fastened up in a corner of the 
feed-house. The coop is divided into two compart- 
ments by a wire-netting door. A bird is put into 
each compartment. If they are male and female, they 
will commence within a week or two to coo and talk 
to each other through the wire, at which time the com- 
partment is fastened up to the top of the cage, and 
they are allowed to have the run of the coop for three 
or four days, after which they are put into a regular 
breeding-house, where they will soon take possession 
of the nest. If, however, the birds chosen simply 



S6 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

ignore each other after they are put into the mating- 
cage, one of them is removed to another cage, and two 
more birds are taken from the nursery-house and put 
into the two compartments. In this way we go 
through the nests until we have them all paired. 



POULTRY AILMENTS 

ONLY in rare instances does poultry require 
doctoring, yet it is well to be prepared with 
sufficient knowledge to recognise the symp- 
toms of approaching trouble. A few small coops 
should be kept in some dry, sheltered outhouse, to be 
used as quarantine quarters. Empty dry-goods boxes 
turned on their sides, with half the front boarded 
across and a door of wire netting to close the other 
half, make good coops for individual patients. They 
should be covered all around, sides and top and bot- 
tom, with roofing-paper, to insure freedom from draft. 
The boxes may be any size, but I like them about 
eighteen inches wide and high, and about two and a 
half feet long. To avoid dampness, and for con- 
venience in attending to the birds, it is well to elevate 
them on legs or stand them on a shelf or bench. Be- 
fore using, or whenever they are vacated, they should 
be disinfected and the inside thoroughly painted with 
whitewash. The enamelled cups without handles can 
be attached to the side of the coop by wire loops. 

The most dreaded visitor on a poultry- farm is roup, 
for it not only affects the bird during the period of 
immediate illness, but it leaves behind it all sorts of 
constitutional weaknesses to the bird's progeny. 

87 



88 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

Every poultry-keeper should cultivate the habit of 
scrutinising his or her flock at feed-times. A suspi- 
cious-looking bird should be caught and removed to 
quarantine quarters immediately. The symptoms of 
cold, influenza, canker, diphtheria and roup are in the 
earlier stages almost identical — watery eyes, sneez- 
ing, discharge from the nostrils or the nostrils being 
stuffed up (the nostrils are the two small holes at the 
base of the bill). When the bird is noticed to have 
any one of these symptoms, open the bill and look 
down the throat. Should there be no signs of trou- 
ble, you may be sure that there is nothing but an 
ordinary cold to fight, which a few days in hospital 
will cure. 

Give light and easily digested food, such as stale 
bread soaked in scalded milk and squeezed almost dry 
or corn-meal which has been well steamed. Put ten 
drops of spirits of camphor on a lump of sugar, then 
dissolve the sugar in a half-pint of water and use in 
the drinking-cup. If, however, examination reveals 
yellow spots on the mouth or in the throat, or a thick 
slimy discharge from the eyes and nostrils, it is a seri- 
ous case of catarrh or roupy cold, which may, if neg- 
lected, develop into malignant roup. Throughout the 
entire range of cold and roupy diseases there is no 
special odour until malignant roup is positively de- 
veloped. Then there is a most offensive and unmis- 
takable odour. 

Treat all diseases which overstep a common cold as 
roup, and you will err on the side of safety. In the 



POULTRY AILMENTS 89 

last and most malignant stages of roup, tHe face and 
eyes or head are very likely to be severely swollen, 
and if things have progressed to such a condition, be- 
fore the bird has been removed from the flock, it is 
well to take the precaution of disinfecting the drink- 
ing and feeding dishes and generally clean up the 
poultry-house, and add a disinfectant to the drinking- 
water for a few days. Permanganate of potassium 
is what I generally use, because it is cheap and most 
effective as a germ-killer. Dissolve one teaspoon ful 
in a quart of warm water, and you will have such a 
strong solution that for all ordinary uses can be diluted 
again at the rate of one teaspoonful to five of water. 

Treatment for roup : First wash off any discharge 
which may have accumulated around the eyes and bill 
with warm water and permanganate; then fill an 
atomiser with diluted permanganate solution and thor- 
oughly spray the throat and nostrils. Repeat night 
and morning, as long as there seems any necessity. 
Keep the light diet as recommended for common cold. 

Indigestion ' and intermediate stages up to acute 
gastritis and liver complaint, all spring from the same 
causes, and will succumb to the same remedies, so we 
will consider them connectedly. They are caused by 
indiscreet or excessive feeding; mash which has been 
allowed to become sour; an excess of bread, potatoes 
or fat in table-scraps fed to the birds; lack of corn, 
vegetables or sharp grit; condition powders, egg- 
foods, and such condiments, if given frequently, will 
affect the digestive organs and bring on indigestion. 



90 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

At first the sufferer looks mopey and stupid ; the comb 
is pale. At this stage a few days in hospital and a 
dose of magnesia and reformation in diet will work 
a cure. Put about a third of a teaspoon ful of sul- 
phate of magnesia in a cup of drinking-water. Feed 
a mash composed of three parts finely-cut clover-hay, 
which has been thoroughly steamed, and one part each 
of coarsely-ground corn and oats. If you haven't 
clover-hay, use M^heat-bran instead; chopped apple, 
lettuce or any greens should be the mid-day meal. 
Put a small pan of sharp grit into the coop. Advance 
symptoms are watery, yellowish droppings and thirst, 
and the comb becoming fiery red, which may gradually 
darken to crimson as the bird's condition becomes 
worse. Administer a teaspoonful of castor-oil; feed 
sparingly on mash, which at this stage should consist 
of boiled rice, scalded bread and milk or cottage- 
cheese. If the dysentery is very severe, fill up a 
drinking-vessel with the water in which the rice was 
boiled. After eight hours of such diet, add twenty- 
five drops of tincture of nux vomica to half a pint of 
rice-water. Continue with light, nourishing food for 
about a week. 

In the fall fowls are frequently given free range, 
before the corn and other crops are harvested, and 
with the result that they gorge themselves with new 
corn, which is very liable to heat and swell. In the 
summer people are very likely to cut grass and throw 
it in to yarded hens, who will eat it greedily, but it 
invariably causes trouble, being in long lengths. 



POULTRY AILMENTS 91 

Lawn-clippings, which are not over an inch in length, 
are quite safe and, of course, supply the required green 
food which they specially crave in hot weather. 
When the bird is seen to have an unusually large crop 
and shows signs of distress, catch it and hold by the 
feet, head downward, then gently work the crop so 
as to push a little of the contents into the throat and 
out through the beak. Even if only a few grains can 
be ejected in this way, it will help the strained con- 
dition of the crop and ease the bird's sufferings. Ad- 
minister a dose of castor or sweet oil. 

Occasionally an obstinate case can't be helped by 
simple means, and then surgery has to be resorted to. 
Tie the feet together and the wings close to the body 
with a broad strip of muslin, place the bird on its side 
on the table, calling in assistance to hold it still, and 
with a sharp pocket-knife make a small slit, first in 
the outer skin, pulling one side slightly outward, then 
making an insertion in the crop itself. Carefully re- 
move the contents. You need not be at all nervous 
about the operation, which is quite painless. After 
the crop is emptied, take a moderately fine needle 
threaded with a fine sewing-silk. Take two or three 
stitches in the crop and cut off the thread, pull the 
edges of the outer skin together and fasten with two 
or three stitches. Of course, under no circumstances 
must the crop and the outer skin be fastened together 
in stitching. Keep the bird on very meagre rations 
for a week or ten days. 

The most common ailment of infant chickenhood is 



92 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

bowel trouble, and one should be on the watch for the 
the first signs, all through the hatching season, as a 
few hours means much to frail baby life. A chill, 
dampness, improper food or dirty drinking-water are 
the usual causes. Should any laxity be noticed in the 
droppings, remove the drinking-water and substitute 
either milk which has been scalded and allowed to cool 
or rice-water, according to the symptoms. Feed 
boiled rice at least once a day. If the chicks are in 
a brooder, set the temperature a little higher than un- 
der ordinary circumstances. If they are with a hen, 
keep her confined to the brood-coop, to insure the 
chicks being able to nestle to her. 

Gapes is the second scourge of chick-life. Gapes is 
not truly a disease, but the effect of a parasite worm, 
which is supposed only to materialise on ground in 
which poultry-droppings have been deposited for sev- 
eral seasons. A gapeworm is only about five six- 
teenths of an inch in length and no thicker than a fine 
thread. Once introduced into the bird's throat it 
fastens there and sucks the blood of its victim, and, 
of course, a little chick has not the strength to eject 
it, no matter how much it may cough or gape. They 
multiply very quickly. Some of the remedies are as 
follows: Dip the end of a small wing feather in 
turpentine, push it down the bird's throat, turn two or 
three times quickly and pull out. The worm may 
come with it. Another is to mix salt and water or 
steep tobacco in water for ten minutes; pour a table- 
spoonful down the bird's throat, keeping the head up, 



POULTRY AILMENTS 93 

and the two holes at the base of the bill covered with 
your thumb and forefinger whilst you count five. Re- 
lease and suddenly turn the bird upside down, holding 
by the feet. It will gasp, splutter and usually eject 
the worm. To exterminate the pests, have the 
ground, on which the birds have been cooped and 
yarded, sprinkled with quicklime (keeping the birds 
safely cooped, so that they cannot get into or eat the 
lime). Let it lie overnight and then plough under. 
If such treatment is impossible, remove all the young 
stock to some other part of the farm. Mature birds 
have the strength to eject the worms. 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 

IT is advisable to plan the garden on paper and 
make out seed lists early in the spring, to save 
time later. Every family will, of course, have 
specially preferred vegetables to take precedence over 
others, so individual taste alone can determine the 
allotted space for each variety. Our selection and 
plan was made with due regard for table pickles and 
preserves, all of which were bountifully supplied. 
Therefore, if your discrimination on such subjects is 
too undeveloped as yet to be trusted, accept our experi- 
ence this year, and then you will know how to recon- 
struct it for your personal needs. When planning out . 
on paper, the second crop should be considered as well 
as the spring sowings. 

One of the advantages of sending for seeds early is 
that you are sure to get the varieties selected, whereas 
later in the season " the best " is frequently sold out. 

When choosing a site, remember that a slight slope 
to the south or southeast is desirable. Size must de- 
pend very much on whether you intend having a 
separate berry patch or not. A hundred feet by 
seventy-five feet will supply an average small family 
with vegetables for the table, excepting winter pota- 
toes, which should be a field crop. 

95 



9.6 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

Protection from the northeast storms should be pro- 
vided. Cedar or privet is the ideal hedge for such 
purposes, but it takes money and time; so, while it is 
developing, resort to the serviceable hurdle fence made 
of brush. 

If the weather is fine, the last two weeks of March 
should see the patch of ground intended for the vege- 
table garden ploughed and harrowed. 

Have well-rotted stable manure scattered over the 
surface before ploughing, which should be deep at 
first. After two or three days' airing, plough again, 
running the furrows crosswise; then harrow and roll 
and harrow again, until every clod is broken up. 
Thorough preparation of the soil should never be 
shirked, for it is more than half the battle. Let me 
caution you not to have the ploughing done if the 
ground be wet. Much of the disappointment which 
city people experience arises from the natural desire 
of the amateur to get to work. Earth ploughed, dug 
or hoed when wet or soggy will bake and crust all 
summer. The right consistency can be ascertained by 
picking up a handful and squeezing it. If it remains 
a solid lump it is too wet, but when it presses to- 
gether easily, and as readily falls apart when released, 
it is in just the right condition to work, will turn a 
clean furrow and will readily crumble under the har- 
row. Sod ground is desirable for potatoes, so if there 
is a strip of grass land which needs renewal, have it 
well ploughed, harrowed, and marked off in rows 
eighteen inches apart, for the winter crop. 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 97 

Almost every old farmer has a theory about the 
way and size to cut potatoes for planting. After 
listening to and trying several methods, we have come 
to the conclusion that cutting large tubers in four, and 
small ones through the centre lengthwise, is much bet- 
ter than dissecting carefully to separate every eye, and 
then using two pieces when planting, especially as the 
innumerable experiments made at the agricultural sta- 
tions have revealed the fact that eyes gather nutriment 
for sustenance and growth from the potato itself, until 
the sprouts develop stems that form joints, at which 
point rootlets start, proving beyond doubt that, unless 
the piece of potato planted is large enough adequately 
to feed the eye or eyes it may contain, the root growth, 
which is required to furnish the subsequent tubers 
with food, must be weakened. We plant one quarter 
potato to every foot in the row, and cover from four 
to five inches deep, selecting ground which has been 
heavily manured the year before, and scattering wood 
ashes on the surface after the seeds have been covered. 

Failing this source, commerical fertiliser specially 
prepared for potatoes must be bought. Thorough 
cultivation is necessary to insure a good crop. Soon 
— say seven or eight days after planting — run the 
harrow over the field, to kill the embryo weeds and 
level the surface. As soon as the plants show, cul- 
tivate again, but of course only between the rows, 
and with an ordinary cultivator. Repeat at frequent 
intervals. 

It is estimated that it takes fifteen bushels of po- 



98 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

tatoes after they have been cut into quarters, to plant 
an acre, which should return one hundred and thirty 
bushels of salable potatoes, by which is meant large 
and medium sized potatoes, small ones not entering 
into the calculation. There will be in all probability 
about thirty bushels of these dwarfs, which are excel- 
lent fattening food for poultry and pigs when cooked 
and mashed up. 

The space intended for carrots requires extremely 
good cultivation, for the soil must be thoroughly pul- 
verised. Tie the seeds in a piece of cheese cloth, steep 
in water for twelve hours, then hang up in a warm 
room to drip and dry sufficiently to prevent their stick- 
ing together when being planted. Another aid we 
furnish these delicate seedlings is to drop a radish 
seed every six inches, because they germinate quickly 
and throw a strong seed leaf, which breaks the crust 
over the row and allows the fragile carrot sprout free 
access. 

Allow two feet from the last row of potatoes, 
stretch the line, and with a pointed stick draw a 
shallow drill in which to scatter the carrot seed. 
Covering must not be more than a fourth of an inch; 
press down firmly. Between each two rows of car- 
rots allow one foot. Steep and use only half the seed 
at first, planting the remainder twenty days later. 
With good ground and cultivation you should have 
carrots late in June. 

A thirty-inch space must divide the carrots from 
the beets. Prepare the ground as before, but make 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 99 

the drill a full inch deep, dropping the seed half an 
inch apart, the rows two feet apart. These should be 
ready for use the first week in June. Keep half the 
seed for late planting. 

Early turnips can start another two feet along. 
Drill half an inch deep, the rows one foot apart. 

*' First of All " peas are semi-dwarf, but yield mucH 
better if given some support. We plant every two 
rows seven inches apart, in a drill one inch deep, and 
when the peas are two inches high we stick brush be- 
tween the rows, so making a hedge of vine when de- 
veloped. Twin rows should be two feet apart. 

For onion sets, make drills an inch and a half deep, 
placing the sets upright and from four to six inches 
apart. Firm the earth all around, and the fourth of 
an inch over them. These will furnish early onions 
for cooking. For onion seed the soil cannot be too 
carefully prepared, for, like carrots, they are long in 
germinating and extremely fragile. A few radish 
seeds can again be used as pioneers. Instead of com- 
mercial fertiliser, the poultry droppings are used for 
onions, being reduced to a powder by grinding in an 
old chopping machine. Sprinkle freely, within one 
inch of the centre of the row, and from three to four 
inches each side of it. Unless rain falls within a few 
days, water very thoroughly with a sprinkler. Hen 
droppings seem especially desirable for all bulbs and 
tubers. 

Lettuce seed requires well-enriched soil; drill one- 
fourth of an inch deep, the rows one foot apart. 



loo MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

From the time seeds are put into the ground, culti- 
vation must be continual, raking between rows being 
frequent enough to destroy embryo weeds. Ten 
minutes' light work with a rake before weeds develop 
iwill save hours of hard labour with a hoe. Cultiva- 
tion is required, not only to destroy weeds, but to 
supply air, and encourage all the moisture from the 
subsoil to travel upward, so nourishing the plant roots 
as they develop, and preventing the soil from baking. 
Not cultivating the ground around plants is as injuri- 
ous to their health as shutting a child in an unventi- 
lated room. 

Lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower plants should now 
be planted out. Prepare the rows as for seed, and 
with the pointed stick used for marking the rows, 
make holes directly under the line — nine inches apart 
for lettuce, one foot for cabbage and cauliflower. 
Put a little water into 'the hole, pack the earth around 
the root and stem, water copiously, then draw dry 
earth up over the wet surface, to prevent the moisture 
from evaporating or a crust forming. To promote 
root growth, cut off half the length of the outer leaves 
with a pair of sharp scissors. If possible, provide 
some protection until the plants are established. 

Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants should be bedded 
out about the twentieth of May. Tomatoes and egg- 
plants stand two and one-half feet apart, each one in 
ground very heavily enriched to a depth of three feet 
and a circumference of two feet. Pursue the same 
method of planting as for cabbage, except that in- 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN loi 

stead of cutting the leaves across, nip out the two 
heart leaves of each plant. Checking top growth 
makes the plant branch and form a stocky bush in- 
stead of a spindly top growth that will break under 
the weight of fruit when it forms. 

If the "home" is to be an ideal haven of rest it 
must be pretty. Economy may prohibit buying plants 
for the flower garden, but the exercise of a little fore- 
thought will enable you to have a lovely display of 
flowers all through the summer at a nominal cost. 
Procure some shallow boxes from your grocer. They 
should not be more than three inches deep, and about 
eighteen inches long and one foot wide. If it is not 
possible to get what you want, saw a six or seven inch 
box in half, using the lid as a bottom for the second 
box. 

Have the mould thoroughly pulverised before sow- 
ing, and prepare an extra quantity to use for covering 
the seeds. This I do by half filling a rather fine 
colander and shaking it over the box until there is an 
even layer over the seeds. The average small flower 
seed should not have more than the fourth of an inch 
over it. A board that will fit inside the box should 
be pressed down hard, to insure the seeds being firmly 
embedded in the mould. Otherwise the air gets 
around them and dries up and kills the first frail germs 
of life. After planting and patting down, sprinkle 
lightly, and stand the boxes in a south or southwest 
window in a living room where the temperature 
averages sixty degrees. The boxes must be watched 



I02 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

for what is called '' damping off." It can easily be de- 
tected by the sickly appearance of the seedlings, fol- 
lowed by a shrivelling or burning of the stem close to 
the earth. The moment the danger signal is noticed, 
prick out into fresh boxes of corresponding size or a 
trifle deeper. The seedlings need not be planted more 
than half an inch apart. Prepare the mould in the 
boxes the same as you did for the seeds, pat down, 
and with a toothpick make the holes in which the baby 
plants are to be put, firming the earth around them 
gently with the forefinger of each hand. Should no 
suggestion of debility appear among the seedlings, still 
prick out into fresh boxes when the second leaves un- 
fold. 

"Bovee" potatoes, for early garden crop i peck, $0.75 

Carrots, " Oxheart " i ounce, .10 

Cauliflower, "Early Snowball" i packet, .25 

Celery i packet, .10 

Beets 2 ounces, .20 

Brussels sprouts i packet, .10 

Cabbage, "Jersey Wakefield" i packet, .15 

Cabbage, " Autumn King " I packet, .15 

Kale, "Dwarf Green" i ounce, .10 

Lettuce, " Boston Market " i ounce, .15 

Peas, "First of AH" i pint, .15 

Peas, " Petit Paris " Yz pint, .10 

Peas, "Champion o'f England" i quart, .30 

Turnips, " Early Flat Dutch " i packet, .05 

Turnips, "Purple Top Aberdeen" I packet, .05 

Turnips, " Rutabaga " i packet, .10 

White onion sets I quart, .25 

Red onion sets i quart, .25 

Onion seed, " Prizetaker " i ounce, .20 

Cucumber, " White Spine " i packet, .10 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 103 

Eggplant, " New York Spineless " I packet, .10 

Tomato, "Crimson Cushion" i packet, .10 

Pepper, " Ruby King " i packet, .10 

Muskmelon, " Delmonico " I packet, .10 

Squash, " Long Island " (summer) i packet, .10 

Squash, " Gregory " (winter) I packet, .10 

Green bush bean, "The Longfellow" i packet, .10 

Pole lima bean, "Leviathan" I packet, .10 

Okra, " Long Green " i. packet, .05 

Radish, "Scarlet Turnip" i ounce, .10 

Corn, " Country Gentleman " i packet, .15 

Herbs — parsley, sage, summer savory, th3nne, marjoram, 

aniseed, wormwood, saffron, tansy i packet each, .40 

Total cost $4-95 



THE HOTBED 

THE outer shells of hotbed and cold-frame are 
identical, and can be made by any handy man. 
As all sashes are made in one size — namely, 
six by three — the boxes must correspond; to insure 
water running off and all the power of the sun being 
utilised, they must slope lengthways, the top end of a 
box being three or four inches higher than the bottom. 
The ordinary box or bed frame is made six feet long, 
three feet wide and fifteen inches high at the top end, 
sloping to twelve at the foot, and stands on the surface 
of the ground, but the plan we have adopted after 
several years' experience is to dig a pit three feet 
deep, six feet two inches long and three feet two 
inches wide, and build the box twenty inches high at 
the top end, sloping to seventeen inches at the foot, 
and of course six feet long and three feet wide, which 
allows it to stand inside the dugout and five inches 
below the surface of the surrounding ground, so 
effectually preventing any cold air creeping in around 
the bottom. We use sound boards two inches thick 
for sides and ends and two-by-two studding for cor- 
ner stays. 

Very well-made boxes and sashes, which fit exactly^ 
are sold by several of the greenhouse builders for 

Ttos 



io6 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

about eight dollars. They are shipped knock-down 
to save express charges, but they are ready to bolt 
together. They come in the ordinary six-by-three 
size, for single beds, or in groups of from three to 
five, with light partitions for the sashes to rest upon. 
The five-section bed costs about twelve dollars, but 
will need five sashes, amounting to fifteen dollars, and 
the partitions, which I think are about one dollar 
a piece. 

For convenience in bad weather, it is well to have 
the beds near the house, and, when possible, sheltered 
from the north and facing the south. Fresh horse 
manure constitutes the heating power in a hotbed. 
We use solid droppings and dry leaves, about half 
and half. It is ripened in the manure-shed by being 
made into a heap about three feet high and three feet 
wide, thoroughly sprinkled with liquid manure. It 
is allowed to stand some weeks after mixing, then 
twice forked over, two weeks intervening. All the 
droppings should be well broken up and mixed with 
the leaves, and the entire mass replied between each 
forking. 

After the ripening process has been accomplished, 
it must be packed into the bottom of the hotbed to 
the depth of two and a half feet. It should be 
smoothly laid and well tramped into place. Put in the 
sash, and within a few days the heat will rise to a 
hundred degrees or over. Lift the sash slightly at 
one end, and wait until the temperature falls to 
about eighty-five degrees, then place about six inches 



THE HOTBED 107 

of rich, fibrous soil over the top. We manufacture 
our potting-mould several months before it is required, 
by taking the old heating material from spent beds 
and mixing it with an equal amount of soil from sod 
land and about one-third the quantity of clean, sharp 
sand. After thorough mixing, it is piled in a large 
heap and left exposed to the weather until required, 
or until late in the fall, when it is put into a shed and 
kept dry to prevent freezing, as potting-mould and 
covering for fresh hotbeds is often needed in the 
early spring. Just before using, it is passed through 
a sieve to remove all lumps. 

The first year, when there is no old bed to empty, 
good top-dressing or potting-mould can be made 
by cutting deep sods, shaking the earth from the roots 
and mixing it with an equal amount of old, well-rotted 
cow manure and about one quarter the amount of 
clean sand. It is imperative to prepare all such things 
in the fall. The outside of a hotbed should be banked 
up with rough stable manure and the sash covered at 
night with mats and shutters in extreme cold weather. 
Old carpet or bags made of burlap and filled with cut 
hay will cost nothing except time and answer quite 
well. We use pads, for which all sorts of old clothes 
are utilised. Then unbleached sheets large enough to 
cover the sash, side and ends, and reach well onto the 
ground, are used. The sheets are given two coats of 
oil, and so are impervdous to rain or snow, and we 
think better than wooden shutters. 

Suppose you want to make your first venture with 



io8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

winter salads, the first gsthering for Tiianksgivmgj, 
and frcMn then on until spring. Start one bed the 
first wedc in October, sow three rows of lettuce seed 
five inches apart, sowing three differait varieties, 
Tennis-Ball, Boston Market and Big Boston; two 
rows of curly cress (peiq)ergras5) the sanae distance 
apart, and five davs later, two rows of white nrustanL 
Eight or ten davs later, prepare a second bed, so that 
the heat may hi' e risen and decreased to about 
seventy-five by :' z :: t lettuce is large enough to 
transplant — 2:: : : rt frran the sowing of 

the serf. Set out the Szt_ rs eight inches apart 
e': ly m the nev^' :t1 . 1 r: r. -:-:i ^cc_ --. cen 

I_-r r . "VS. 

If you have e:::v^ \ :-:.::' t~ 7''-:: :he iliree ::~7-Tr: 
varieties of '.t:::- :: -tt : tie "->; __ 
mafxu^ in ihe r: : :. : : i _t tr. ::.e ro'^s cf 
the Boston ZI^: r: ^^ t Z r If: :: stir 

may be sown. When se' ; ,: : :r :: :: 5; 1;:. 
dioose ±e s:r:nr St: Z ^5 i::i :::.: : firrT :\: Jirts 
of the rows, so thai w. t:: :::e f.r;!.5 z'.i:.'- sre 
thinned out, the rest will be left to grow ur : : : - ^ 

The mustard and cress will be ready to cut in : : : : : 
seven to ten days after "Jhe rmistard is sown. C v t 
cress with a pair of sdss::^ ! "'e -^rve the sc 
it will spring aga'"" '" : Vustard mur: _^ 

sowed after each g^ ^ : •': only take? --'" 

the time to dcvdop. 1: ben the Sz-i.- 

crop of cress :?. .-u?: . ^ re allowed to grow 

more than an .:.:'.'. i:-.L - i.: 1: . .rjund- One 



THE HOTBED 109 

important thing to remember in running a succession 
of hotbed crops, is that the heating power of manure 
only lasts about seven weeks. Beans, beets and 
Swiss chard, and such hardy things, which require 
two months or more to mature, do not suffer through 
the decrease of heat, in fact, will do just as well, or 
better, in a spent hotbed or cold-frame, which is just 
a hotbed without any heating material. But if very 
cold weather sets in, bank up heavily around the sides 
and ends with fresh manure, to keep the cold from 
penetrating the bed-box, and using extra heavy mats 
over the sash at night. 

Eggplant, tomatoes and peppers should be started 
the last week in February, and celery, cabbage, cauli- 
flower and Brussels sprouts about the first of March. 
One bed should be devoted to onion seed (sown at 
the end of February)', and seedlings can be pricked 
out into another bed or cold-frame when about two 
inches high, and w^ill be strong bulbs to plant out in the 
garden in April. Cucumbers, muskmelons and squasH 
can all be started on sods in a hotbed, early in April, 
and will be sturdy plants by May 20th. 



HOW TO GROW ASPARAGUS 

WHY every garden has not an asparagus-bed is 
an unfathomable mystery to me. It is uni- 
versally liked; even epicures consider it a 
delicacy. It is ready for table use in very early 
spring, when everyone craves fresh vegetables, and 
it is as easy to grow as any other vegetable after it 
is once established. 

Probably the last word explains the mystery. It 
takes three years to establish, or, rather, to bring it to 
the profitable stage. A light crop can be gathered the 
second season, so the home table profits almost as 
quickly as in the case of artichokes or straw^berries. 
Whatever the cause, the fact remains that an aspara- 
gus-bed is rarely found on a farm. Yet the pecuniary 
advantages to be reaped from asparagus-growing are 
sufficient to satisfy the most ambitious gardener. 

Three years after our first bed from seed was 
started we sold three hundred and fifty-four bunches 
at an average of forty cents a bunch. Early in the 
season we got fifty cents, toward the end of the 
season some were sold for thirty-five cents. Since 
then the annual returns have never dropped below two 
hundred and eighty-six dollars. Manuring and cul- 
tivating cost approximately twelve dollars a year. 

Ill 



112 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

The bed occupied about a quarter of an acre of 
ground. Having a number of egg customers, we sell 
direct and so get the full price, but even v^holesale 
prices range from fifteen to twelve cents. 

There are two ways of starting beds, sowing seed 
or setting out plants. One-year-old plants will cost 
from sixty cents to a dollar a hundred. Planted in 
April and well cared for, they will provide several 
dishes for the home table the following spring and 
nearly a full crop the second spring. Seed sowed at 
the same time will take a year longer, but after that 
will give a larger yield than the transplanted plants 
and, as asparagus-beds are productive for fifteen or 
twenty years, the one-year loss in the beginning is an 
economy. But it is well to set out a few plants, sim- 
ply because in the country one cannot get Southern 
vegetables, which come into the city early in the spring, 
and, therefore, should try to have a home supply as 
quickly as possible. 

In selecting ground for an asparagus-bed, it must 
be remembered that it is a permanent crop, and can- 
not be transplanted after it is established. It will 
grow on any ordinary garden soil which is well 
drained, but, when possible, heavy subsoil with light 
sand or loam above it should be selected, as it will 
invariably produce an earlier crop each year than 
heavy ground. The soil should slope to the south or 
southwest, and a shelter from the northeast is also 
desirable. For our large market bed we used land 
that had been under cultivation for two years. The 



HOW TO GROW ASPARAGUS 113 

preceding crops had been corn, oats and potatoes, so it 
had been thoroughly worked. 

After the potatoes were harvested in the fall, the 
field was ploughed, and barn-yard manure scattered 
broadcast over it. Early the following spring the 
ground was again ploughed, to turn in the manure, 
and harrowed each way to thoroughly break up and 
pulverise the soil. Should you be compelled to use 
ground that has not been worked previously, and is 
of a heavy, damp character, it would be well to plough 
as early as possible in summer, if necessary, using a 
subsoil plough, to break the ground to a depth of 
fifteen or sixteen inches, 

Harrow to smooth the surface, and repeat the 
harrowing about every three weeks until October, 
when it should be ploughed again to the depth of six 
or seven inches, manured and left until spring. After 
the spring harrowing the rows must be marked out 
five feet apart and running from north to south. 
Use the plough back and forth in the same furrow 
to make a wide trench, which should be six or seven 
inches deep and about a foot wide. If much of the 
soil falls back into the trench, remove it with a spade 
or broad hoe, then plant seed about three inches apart. 
Keep the rows free from weeds all through the season 
and the ground loose around the plants. 

It is desirable to utilise the space between the rows, 
as it insures the ground being well cultivated. Each 
space will accommodate two rows of carrots, onions 
or lettuce, or one row of cabbage. In the fall, when 



114 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

the tops of the asparagus begin to die, they must be 
cut off and burned. 

The following spring the ground between the rows 
should be manured and ploughed, or spaded if the 
place is an inclosed garden and a plough cannot be 
used. Strong roots may throw very good-sized 
sprouts, but don't be tempted to gather them, for their 
removal will stimulate the plant to throw up more 
stalks than its age warrants, and the result will be 
either death or a weakly, unprofitable existence for 
several seasons. Not more than one row of carrots 
or onions should be grown between the rows the sec- 
ond season, and, unless space is of great value, it is 
as well not to use it at all. 

Cultivation must be kept up all through the growing 
season, to destroy weeds and keep the ground in con- 
dition. Many amateurs have an idea that hoeing or 
cultivating of any sort is solely to destroy weeds, 
which is a great mistake. Stirring the surface soil 
breaks the crust, and the powdered earth forms a 
mulch which keeps the lower soil moist, a condition 
which liberates the mineral qualities which constitute 
plant-food. 

The second spring after sowing seed a light crop of 
stalks may be gathered, say two or three from each 
hill, but not more. Then allow the stalks to grow and 
feather out until they assume their full fern-like form. 
In June apply a moderate quantity of barn-yard 
manure between the rows if the ground is not being 
used. If it is occupied by a crop, use commercial 



HOW TO GROW ASPARAGUS 115 

fertiliser composed of equal parts of nitrate of soda, 
sulphate of potash and wood-ashes. Scatter each side 
of whatever vegetable occupies the space between the 
rows and work the fertiliser well into the soil. 

In August, when the crop is harvested, apply a 
moderately heavy dressing of well-rotted barn-yard 
manure. Late in October cut down stalks and burn, 
as the year before; then plough or spade between the 
rows. The third spring will bring the bed to a profit- 
able state, though it will not reach its full yearly ca- 
pacity for another year. Use the one-horse cultivator 
or hoe between the rows as early as the ground can 
be worked. Draw the earth slightly from the roots 
at first, to permit the sun to warm the ground around 
the roots and awaken the plant to life. 

A w^eek or so later, if white asparagus is desired, 
the soil must be again drawn up over the plants and 
each row hilled up so as to bleach the sprouts. The 
operation will need repeating about once a week all 
through the cutting season, which should not last 
more than three weeks on so young a bed, though 
in future years it may be kept up six or even eight 
weeks. 

After the cutting season throw down the ridges 
made by the hilling-up and apply either barn-yard 
manure or commercial fertiliser, repeating the applica- 
tion about July ist. If green asparagus is desired, 
the only difference in treatment consists in omitting 
the hilling-up. 

After the third year care of the bed consists of 



ii6 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

manuring and cultivating. We have found it best to 
use barn-yard manure and commercial fertiliser al- 
ternately. Sowing the seed in trenches or deep 
furrows is done to insure the crowns being three or 
four inches below the surface when they have de- 
veloped considerable growth, which would not be the 
case if they were sown on the level ground to com- 
mence with. Like its cousin, the lily of the valley, 
asparagus sends out roots and stalks from a heart or 
crown, which must be underground where it is moist 
and dark. • 

Asparagus may be canned like any other vegetable 
for winter use; pack, cut ends down, in glass jars, fill 
jars with cold water, put the lids on loosely, stand in 
hot water, boil three hours, fill the jars to the brim 
with boiling water and screw lids down tight. 

If you consider that raising from seed is beyond 
your patience, buy plants from a reliable grower. 
Most nurserymen's catalogues quote one and two year 
plants, but the experienced are unanimous in prefer- 
ring strong one-year-old plants, affirming that they 
stand being transplanted better than the older ones. 
The ground must be prepared as for seed. When 
the plants arrive, put them into water for twelve or 
twenty-four hours to soften. Set the plants two feet 
apart in trenches, being careful to have the crowns 
right side up. If you hold up a plant in your hand 
you will notice that the thick fleshy roots all proceed 
from the heart, or crown, as it is called, and droop 
downward, and that on the other side of the crown 



HOW TO GROW ASPARAGUS 117 

there are what look like small rootlets. These are 
really the dry stalks from the preceding season and 
buds of the coming season, and are often mistaken 
for roots and placed downward in the trenches instead 
of upward, which of course they should be. 

The proper way to plant is to make a small mound 
at the bottom of the trench — about two handfuls of 
soil — and spread out the roots, and place the crown 
on the mound of earth in such a way that the roots 
envelope it. Press them firmly into place, and cover 
until the crown is about two inches below the soil. 
If it happens to be a dry season, water regularly until 
growth is well established. 

Asparagus must be cut very carefully, otherwise the 
embryo shoot may be destroyed or the crown itself 
killed. When only small quantities are being removed 
each day, the best plan is to pass the thumb and fore- 
finger down the spur an inch or two into the ground, 
then bend outward, and it will snap below the surface 
of the earth without injuring the plant in any way. 
When large beds are being cut for market, a knife will 
have to be used, as it does the work so much more 
quickly. Asparagus-knives are of special shape. 
There are several on the market, and they will be 
found advertised in all seedmen's catalogues. The 
average price is fifty cents. 

Rust, a fungus disease, has become very prevalent 
during the last few years, attacking both young and 
old beds. As the name implies, it looks like rust on 
the stalks and spoils the appearance for market, be- 



ii8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

sides injuring the plant and materially affecting the 
crop. 

It has been suggested by many who have studied 
the subject that rust originates on decaying stalks. 
For that reason it is advisable to burn the dead stalks 
as soon as they are cut away in the fall, instead of 
allowing them to decay on a compost-heap, as one 
does with other garden trimmings. Spraying with 
Bordeaux mixture after the cutting season each year 
has been recommended as a preventive. Once estab- 
lished, there seems no remedy. We have a neighbour 
whose beds were seriously affected seven or eight years 
ago. He tried a number of ordinary washes and 
powders, but they seemed useless. Six years ago he 
started new beds and adopted our plan of alternating 
commercial fertiliser with barn-yard manure as we 
had never had any sign of rust, and he attributed it 
to the ashes in the mixture we used, thinking that they 
purified the ground. 

Another enemy is the asparagus-beetle — an attract- 
ive-looking insect, jet black, with red, yellow and blue 
markings. It remains hidden in brush or rubbish 
through the winter and comes out in the first warm 
days of spring to lay its eggs, always choosing the 
young, tender sprouts for their resting-place. In a 
few days the young grubs hatch and feed on the 
asparagus, boring small holes, entirely ruining the 
appearance of the stalks, and occasionally descend to 
the crown of the plant itself. It only takes the grubs 
a month to pass through the several stages which 



HOW TO GROW ASPARAGUS 119 

bring them to maturity, so that if only one or two 
beetles sunave the winter, there may be an army by 
the time the beds are bearing fully. Allowing poul- 
try to run on the beds in the fall and winter is about 
the safest and easiest way of scotching the pests, 
though dusting with air-slaked lime in the early spring 
is recommended, and some authorities suggest the 
cutting of the beds as soon as shoots develop in the 
early spring, hoping in that way to destroy the eggs. 
This is rather an expensive remedy, as it means burn- 
ing up the early market crop, which brings the best 
prices. 



HOW TO GROW MUSHROOMS 

ANYONE who has a good cellar where an even 
temperature can be maintained can grow 
mushrooms for home use, but if they are to 
be raised in large quantities for market, an appropri- 
ate building must be given over to their exclusive use. 
We have been successful for several seasons in grow- 
ing mushrooms in an amateurish way, but it was not 
until a large root-cellar was left vacant that we 
thought of the feasibility of adding them to our 
market products. 

The farm we were lucky enough to acquire was one 
of the old-fashioned, practical places, with a full 
equipment of buildings. Under the cow-barn there 
was a stone basement, used for the winter storing 
of root crops. After our dairy herd developed, it 
seemed wise to use ensilage instead of roots during 
the winter. So we built a silo, and this left the store- 
house vacant. It was eighty feet long and fifteen feet 
wide, so, after we conceived the mushroom idea, we 
partitioned off thirty feet to retain as a storing-place 
for household vegetables and fitted up the other fifty 
feet with mushroom-beds. 

We put in a brooder-house stove and pipe system, 
which cost one hundred and twenty dollars. The 

121 



122 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

lumber for the beds cost an additional thirty dollars, 
extra manure twenty-two dollars and spawn fifty dol- 
lars — two hundred and twenty-two dollars in all. 
Four months later we had received four hundred and 
forty-five dollars. Since then the returns have fluctu- 
ated between four and five hundred dollars, and we 
estimate that it costs one hundred and twenty-five dol- 
lars per season to produce the crop. So I think that 
mushrooms can be considered profitable when run in 
connection with poultry or general farming, especially 
as they come in at a season of the year when there is 
very little else to be attended to, and, what is more, 
the only heavy work is preparing manure and compost 
for the beds, and that any ordinary farm man can 
accomplish. The rest is all so light and easy that a 
young girl or a delicate woman can attend to it with- 
out fatigue. 

It is not necessary to have an expensive stone or 
brick building. We have a neighbour who uses part 
of an old cow-stable, and a man in the suburbs of New 
York, who grows a quantity each season, has simply 
a dugout with rough board walls, two feet above the 
ground, and an A-shaped roof — all covered with tar- 
paper, a place that could not have cost more than 
seventy-five dollars at the very most. A shed or out- 
building of any kind will answer if it is weather-proof 
and can be kept at a temperature of fifty-five or sixty 
in zero weather without much expense. 

Don't be tempted to start on any elaborate scale in 
the house-cellar, for the odour from the beds whilst 



HOW TO GROW MUSHROOMS 123 

the manure is heating prior to planting-time will per- 
meate the entire house and cling to carpets and drap- 
eries in a most horrible way. Of course, this does 
not obtain when only a few are to be raised for the 
home table, because shallow boxes can be used and 
need not be carried into the cellar until the objection- 
able period is past. 

When a special house is used, the beds may be made 
on the floor, a great depth of manure used and artifi- 
cial heat dispensed with. But it is not a good or 
economical plan, for the necessary amount of stable 
manure would cost as much as fuel, necessitate close 
watching and the result would not be as satisfactory, 
so we will only consider the approved method of 
benches and artificial heat, which is generally adopted 
by the modern market grower. 

The benches in our house run on each side, leaving 
walks three feet wide through the centre of the house, 
two feet along the side walls. Having the three walks 
enables us to gather from each side of the beds, which 
is almost a necessity when the beds are four feet wide. 
With a narrower house and beds, a centre path would 
be sufficient, but it should not be less than three feet 
wide for convenience when filling and emptying 
beds. 

The benches are made of two-by-two studding and 
rough hemlock boards, the studding being used for 
the upright supports which go from floor to ceiling, 
every five feet of the entire length and on each side 
of the house. Supports are run diagonally between 



124 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

each four uprights on each side of the house, to make 
a foundation for the floor of the beds, as well as to 
strengthen the entire structure. The hemlock boards 
are used for the sides and bottoms of the beds, which 
are two feet above the ground. Beds should be six- 
teen inches deep, but we used one row of boards nine 
inches wide and another row six inches wide, as the 
boards happened to be cut in those sizes. 

The second tier of beds, which were added a year 
later, were a foot and a half above the top of the first 
tier and only twelve inches deep, but have proved 
quite as satisfactory in every way, and as the shallow 
beds take less manure, I think it is safe to advise be- 
ginners to adopt the latter depth for beds in a house 
where artificial heat is used. 

The bottoms and sides of the beds should be fixed 
so that they can be easily removed, as it facilitates 
the work of emptying beds, which has to be done 
every spring. Any heating apparatus which can be 
easily arranged and depended upon can, of course, be 
used, but I think the stove and pipes which are spe- 
cially made for poultry plants are the most convenient, 
as their construction is so simple that any handy man 
can fix them without the aid of a plumber — a great 
consideration on the farm. 

Narrow cellar windows were inserted in the sides 
of the house, to furnish light and air in the spring 
and fall, when the heavy work was being done, and 
also while gathering each day during the season. It 
is so much pleasanter to work by daylight, and it does 



HOW TO GROW MUSHROOMS 125 

not injure the crop in any way, if shutters are used to 
keep out the cold. 

The main factor in mushroom-growing is beds.. 
First, the material of which they are composed; sec- 
ondly, the way they are made. Fresh manure, with 
a fair percentage of short bedding (straw or leaves 
preferably), must be collected each day when the sta- 
bles are cleaned. We use two parts horse and one 
part cow manure, sometimes substituting sheep-drop- 
pings for horse. The daily collection must be stored 
in a shed and made into a pile about three feet high 
and two and a half feet wide. 

As soon as sufficient manure is collected to fill the 
beds, the curing process should be commenced. This 
consists of packing manure closely together, and if 
at all dry, slightly moistening it with water or drain- 
age from the stables to start fermentation. Within a 
few hours the heat will commence to create steam and 
it must be forked over and made into a fresh pile. 

To check the heat, which would, if left to run its 
course, quickly burn out the value of the manure and 
render it worthless, forking and repiling will probably 
have to be repeated three or four times, with from 
two to three days intervening, according to the 
strength of the manure and the temperature. It usu- 
ally takes from two to three weeks to cure manure 
properly. When it shows a temperature of one hun- 
dred degrees Fahrenheit after being undisturbed for 
thirty-six hours, it may be considered all right. 

We half fill beds with the rough material, then mix 



126 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

soil from sod ground with the remainder to fill up the 
top of the beds. The proportion is about one-third 
soil to two-thirds prepared manure. When filling the 
beds, the manure, and also the mixture of soil and 
manure, should be strewed in thin layers, say about 
two inches at a time, and stamped down thoroughly 
before the next layer is added. When the beds are 
filled, cover the surface with straw or mats to prevent 
the beds becoming dry. 

The manure will heat considerably after being 
packed in the beds, so thermometers should be inserted 
every few feet, as planting must not be done until the 
temperature falls to ninety degrees Fahrenheit, at 
which stage the straw or mat can be removed and the 
spawn inserted. The propagation of mushrooms is 
entirely different from that of any other vegetable, 
neither seed, bulb, nor cutting holding any place in 
the process. From the gill-like lining of a full-grown 
mushroom fall innumerable spores, so minute that if 
caught on a sheet of paper they would look like dust. 
If the spores fall upon earth that is in just the right 
condition, mould-like filaments develop, spread and 
become what we call spawn. 

Spawn culture is a complicated process, which con- 
cerns the grower of mushrooms not at all, as he buys 
spawn as he would any other seed, except that it is 
sold in compressed brick-like cakes, which weigh 
about a pound apiece, or in rough shreds; the latter 
variety being known as flake or French spawn. 

Bricks, known as English spawn, seem to give the 



HOW TO GROW MUSHROOMS 127 

best results in this country and are what we have 
•always used. They should be broken into pieces 
about the. size of a walnut, planted in rows a foot 
apart, the pieces being six inches apart in the rows. 
The spawn should be inserted about three inches. 
The best plan is to lift a small part of the manure 
with a hand fork, press down the spawn, replace the 
manure and press firmly in place. The close packing 
is one of the principal points of success, so it is well 
to go over the entire bed with the back of a wooden 
shovel or a small mallet. 

After planting replace the straw or mats if the 
temperature of the house is at all dry. Eight days 
later remove the mats and cover the beds with a layer 
two inches thick of good garden soil. 

Until the mushrooms begin to appear the tempera- 
ture of the house may be sixty-five to sixty-eight 
degrees Fahrenheit, but from the moment they com- 
mence to appear keep it as nearly fifty-five as possible. 
Moisture must be carefully watched. If the beds ap- 
pear at all dry, even after the soil has been placed over 
them, cover with mats for a few days or even sprin- 
kle the beds very lightly, but they must not be made 
at all wet. Perhaps the safest plain for the inex- 
perienced is to sprinkle the walks, as then there can 
be no danger of an overdose. 

It takes about five weeks for spawn to spread 
through the beds and about another two weeks before 
the crop makes its appearance. W^ell-made beds, in 
a house kept at fifty-five degrees, will yield for ten 



128 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

or twelve weeks, but during the last two or three 
weeks the quantity will decrease rapidly. 

Gathering must be done every day, and in the height 
of the yield it is wise to go through the beds twice a 
day to avoid the loss which occurs within a few hours 
from overripening. When the mushroom first breaks 
through the ground, it is apparently a solid, white 
ball, balanced on a miniature column. A few hours, 
and the under part of the ball breaks from the stock 
and the mushroom gradually spreads like an umbrella 
being opened and shows a line of pale pink, or flesh- 
coloured, gills, which become darker every hour until 
almost black, at which stage the mushroom becomes 
thin and rapidly decays. 

If mushrooms are gathered just after the veil (as 
the skin which attaches the edge of the cap to the 
stock is technically termed) breaks, they can be held 
over for twenty-four hours without deteriorating, if 
kept in a cool place away from the air. If, by chance, 
some open ones escape the picker's notice, remove 
them as soon as seen. 



SIX GOOD VEGETABLES TO GROW 

IT is strange that many of the most useful vege- 
tables are neglected in the majority of home 
gardens. Okra, Swiss chard, leeks, Brussels 
sprouts and Scotch kale are really little known, yet 
they are all appetizing health additions to the table, 
and require no special conditions or culture. 

Okra, or gumbo, as it is invariably called in the 
South, figures very largely in Creole cooking, but here 
in the East is only just appearing in the markets. 
The demand is sure to grow rapidly, because it is 
one of those insidious articles which seem indispensa- 
ble when once used. Soups, stews, gravies and in- 
numerable made dishes are all improved by a little 
okra, and it is the basis of many special dishes. My 
household is fond of gumbo soup, so for that alone 
okra had to have a place in the garden, and now we 
use it in a dozen different ways. Cut into slices and 
spread alternately with rice and tomatoes in a cas- 
serole, with butter, in which curry-powder and salt has 
been mixed, dotted all over the top and baked for 
three hours, it is a deliciously savoury luncheon dish. 

But it is the growing, not the cooking, of this neg- 
lected vegetable that I have to do with just now. The 
ground for okra should be thoroughly enriched and 

129 



130 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

well cultivated. Make a furrow about an inch deep, 
and if only a home supply is wanted, about thirty feet 
long. Sow the seeds two inches apart in rows and 
cover. Thin to eighteen inches apart when the seed- 
lings are about two inches high. If more than one! 
row is to be grown, make them two and a half feet 
apart. 

Okra is a semi-tropical plant, so is better not sown 
until the second week in May. Once started, it grows 
very rapidly, yields and continues a supply of pods 
throughout the season. The flowers are large and 
rather pretty, but only last a few hours; after they 
fall it takes about twelve hours for a pod to develop 
sufficiently for gathering. To be in perfect condition 
for cooking they should not be much more than an 
inch long. Any surplus quantity can be dried or 
canned for winter use. Sliced, they are a splendid 
addition to mixed pickles. 

Swiss chard is such a true cut-and-come-again that 
for home or market it is invaluable, and a poultry- 
keeper can find no better or cheaper green food for 
fowls that are yarded. The leaves and stalks are the 
edible part, and can be boiled like spinach or the stalks 
alone used. They are white and run the full length 
of the leaf. Cut them out and tie loosely; cook and 
serve just as you would asparagus. The new variety 
called " Lucullus " is, I think, the best. Make the 
ground very rich; sow in rows three feet apart, about 
the end of April or the first week in May. Thin the 
plants when they are about two inches high to stand 



SIX GOOD VEGETABLES TO GROW 131 

eighteen inches apart. When used as spinach cut the 
leaves when they are ten inches high, but when the 
stalks are to simulate asparagus gathering should be 
delayed until they are about fourteen inches high. 
Then cut off the green part of the leaf, which can still 
be used as greens. No matter how the leaves are to 
be used or at what height the crop is cut, be very care- 
ful never to injure the heart of the plant, for if you 
do successive crops will be spoiled. 

Brussels sprouts have been gaining favour in the 
market during the last few years and should certainly 
be in every garden, for they possess all the healthful 
qualities of cabbage, and the flavour is much more 
delicate. 

When small, the plants look exactly like cabbage, 
but instead of firm, solid heads, the stalks run up to 
twelve or fourteen inches in height, and baby cabbages 
spring out all around the stalk for the entire length. 
One plant often yields thirty-five or forty of these 
diminutive cabbages. 

One great advantage of Brussels sprouts is that the 
seed need not be sown until June and the plants are 
not ready for transplanting until July, so can succeed 
early peas in the same ground. Like all members of 
the cabbage family, Brussels sprouts are gluttons and 
positively must have heavy and rich ground. Sow 
seed in shallow drills; transplant when seedlings are 
about three inches high, two feet apart in rows three 
feet apart. For early spring harvest, sow seeds in 
hotbed during February or March. Mature plants are 



132 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

quite hardy, but must be dug up before severe frost. 
The best way to keep the home supply is to hang the 
whole plant up by the roots in a frost-proof cellar. 

Leeks and winter onions are members of the onion 
family which are usually overlooked, and it is a great 
pity, because they are both most desirable. Leeks 
should be sown on very fine, rich soil. A heavy 
dressing of poultry manure, applied the fall before 
planting, is an ideal fertiliser. Scatter the seed thick 
in rows two feet apart and thin out the plants so that 
they stand nine inches apart. Cultivate the ground 
constantly and hill up as the plants grow. This is a 
part of the work which must not be neglected, as it 
encourages the growth and bleaches the stalks. A 
slight frost won't hurt them, but they must be heavily 
banked up and covered with litter if they are to stay 
out in the ground until spring. 

The winter supply of these vegetables should be dug 
in December and stored in the house for convenience. 
Pack them, standing up as they grow, in boxes ; scat- 
ter earth between them, and keep them in a dark cellar. 
For soups they are much superior to ordinary onions. 
Boiled and served with white sauce, they are a most 
enjoyable vegetable. 

Winter bunch onions, as they are termed, are really 
the earliest of all spring onions. Sow the seed in 
shallow drills, a foot apart, in May or June. Culti- 
vate until fall, then cover with litter. Early in the 
following spring rake off and cultivate lightly between 



SIX GOOD VEGETABLES TO GROW 133 

the rows, and you will have delicious green onions for 
table or market when other people are thinking about 
sowing the seed. 

Kale should be considered indispensable in every 
garden, for it comes into season late in the fall, when 
frost has demolished all other greens. Even in the 
vicinity of New York it can be relied upon to furnish 
early spring greens almost before the snow is off the 
ground. In fact, I have gathered it from under deep 
snow in midwinter and found it in good condition. 
Seeds should be sown about the middle of June, and 
the seedlings transplanted into rows two feet and a 
half apart. The leaves are curly and of a dark green, 
and should not be used until there has been some frost, 
for until frozen they are as tough as they are tender 
after Jack Frost has visited them. 

As soon as the weather becomes colder, bank straw 
or leaves on each side of the rows up to the top of the 
kale and then put cedar branches or brush of some 
sort along each side to keep the covering in place. 

Kohlrabi is another valuable vegetable, which comes 
in when other things have faded. It really belongs 
to the cabbage family, but it is more like the turnip. 
The edible part is the bulb which develops above 
ground. When cooked it looks and tastes like a most 
delicately flavoured turnip. As they must be cooked 
while young and tender, it is best to make several sow- 
ings; one in the hotbed in February, and two others 
in the open ground; the first in May, the second in 



134 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

August. They can stand quite a heavy frost and so 
are usable until December or January, according to 
the season. 

Sow in rows placed about two feet apart, and after 
the young plants have attained sufficient strength to 
withstand attacks from beetles and such insects, thin 
them to two feet apart. 

Perhaps it is as well to add a few hints about the 
general cultivation of these vegetables — hints which 
will be useful for all gardening. Cultivation must 
be constant and thorough, especially when the soil is 
light and sandy. Of course, no good gardener will 
permit weeds to get a foothold in his territory, but the 
constant use of the rake is much more important, for it 
keeps up the supply of moisture in the soil around the 
roots of the plants, and so insures their being well fed 
and making rapid growth. 

This is a point which always seems to puzzle inex- 
perienced gardeners, so it needs explanation. Stir- 
ring the surface soil with a fine rake as soon as it is 
partly dry after a rain, furnishes a mulch of dust 
which prevents the moisture in the lower earth escap- 
ing, because it checks the capillary process by which 
moisture travels to the surface and is carried into the 
air. The soil may be rich in the mineral and animal 
components which constitute plant-food, but unless 
moisture is present in sufficient quantities these are not 
available as sustenance for plants. 



HOW TO PLANT AND CULTIVATE STRAW- 
BERRIES 

JUST why growing one's own strawberries should 
create a sense of superiority is difficult to say, but 
it does. City friends, who accept really difficult 
agricultural accomplishments with matter-of-fact in- 
difference, tender a sort of wondering respect to the 
strawberry-grower, and what is more extraordinary, 
the grower invariably accepts the laudation with the 
condescending pride of a victor. At least, I must own 
to some such feeling, even though I know how absurd 
it is, for the small wild berry is indigenous to this 
country and was adopted by the thrifty colonial house- 
wives as a garden-plant long before the horticulturists 
dreamed of taking it under their scientific manage- 
ment. 

The cultivated strawberries are somewhat like 
exotics, having been created in Europe from the native 
wild berry and a somewhat similar wild plant brought 
from Chili in 1750. Varieties resulting from that 
cross were subsequently brought to this country and 
furnished the stock from which has gradually been 
developed the large, luscious fruit of to-day. But it 
still likes American soil and so will thrive in a wider 
range of latitude than any other cultivated plant. 

135 



i36 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

There are several strawberry farms in our vicinity 
and, according to the owners, they bear most profit- 
able crops. One grower tells me that he averages six 
thousand quarts to the acre, and gets an average price 
of eight cents a quart. Another neighbour says he 
calculates to clear three hundred dollars an acre from 
his berries. Personally, I can't quote figures, because 
we have never gone in for market berries. Being 
very fond of them, and wanting the very best we could 
possibly grow, we have always confined our efforts to 
garden culture, just for home consumption, and the 
reward has been such epicurean feasts that we have 
been satisfied. 

Like asparagus, strawberry beds should be estab- 
lished as soon as the family has settled in a country 
home, because it takes a year to get a full crop. 
There are a great many varieties to choose from, but 
I think it is best to restrict selection to the old estab- 
lished kinds. The Marshall for first early, the Glen 
Mary for mid-season and the Gandy for late gather- 
ing. And truly I don't believe there can be a better 
selection for the home garden in the vicinity of New 
York. 

But, as some varieties do better than others in a 
certain locality, it is advisable to consult old residents 
in the neighbourhood and the nurserymen from whom 
plants are ordered. 

Light sandy soil, sloping slightly to the south, will 
produce the earliest berries, but we are convinced 



STRAWBERRIES 137 

from experience that slightly heavier soil and a more 
northerly exposure produces a better fruit in mid- 
season. Our beds all slope to the south, but the late 
varieties are so situated that they are slightly shaded 
by a row of young pear trees, which protects them 
from the direct rays of the sun. The soil is — or 
rather was — of ordinary quality, neither very sandy 
nor very heavy, so for several seasons we scattered 
fine coal ashes between the rows of the early plants, 
which materially lightened the soil, and for several 
years we have had berries from five to ten days earlier 
than our neighbours. 

New beds may be started in the fall or spring, 
whichever is the most convenient. If the plants are 
set out in the early fall, they will bear the following 
season, but if planting is delayed until spring, it will 
be a full year before any fruit can be expected. So 
I recommend August planting of all plants to the be- 
ginner, and spring planting when there are established 
beds to take other plants from. 

To explain: Strawberries are propagated from 
the runners, which, under natural conditions, shoot 
out from the parent plants and, taking root, develop 
individual crowns. But the up-to-date nurseryman 
has of late years taken to sinking small pots filled with 
rich earth in the beds, then by lifting the ends of the 
runners on to the pots the roots of the young plants 
develop within the pot instead of on the ground and 
can later in the season be removed without any check 



138 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

to growth, which, of course, greatly facihtates the 
growth of the crown after it is set out in its permanent 
position. 

Pot plants, as they are called, are slightly more ex- 
pensive than layer plants, but they are well worth it 
when time is an object. 

Before the plants arrive the ground should be thor- 
oughly prepared by digging and raking until it is 
in a fine fibrous condition. Mark off rows four feet 
apart. When the plants are received, unpack and 
water copiously, and leave in a shady place for twenty- 
four hours before setting out, at which time make a 
hole with a trowel a little larger than the pot in which 
the plant has been growing, fill it about half-full of 
water, and if the plants have been delivered in the 
pots, remove carefully by loosening the soil, which is 
done by pushing a small stick through the drain-hole 
and turning the pot upside down. Then slip out the 
ball of earth, and put it into the hole which you made 
with the trowel. Fill in with the loose earth and the 
process of planting will be complete. 

Plants should be set two feet apart in the rows. If 
they are strong and healthy specimens, growth will 
start almost immediately, so you must go carefully 
through the rows in about two weeks' time, when the 
plants will have commenced to throw out runners. 
We never allow more than four for each plant, and 
those are trained to root as nearly as possible before 
and behind and on each side of the parent plant, which 
makes a solid row about twenty-seven inches wide at 



STRAWBERRIES 139 

the end of the growing season. The best way of in- 
suring runners rooting is to press them close to the 
soil, holding them in place either with a small stone -or 
a handful of earth. 

After growth stops in the fall, the space betwecH 
the rows should receive a dressing of commercial 
fertiliser and be well spaded over. About December 
1st a mulch of straw or leaves should be spread over 
the plants to protect them from the frost. Early the 
following spring the same work is repeated, and about 
May 1st the mulch is removed from immediately 
around the plants, but left on the ground to keep the 
berries from coming in contact with the earth, and 
also to keep the soil moist about the roots. The beds 
must be kept free from weeds at all times. 

After the crop has been gathered, a few runners 
are allowed to develop and are rooted in pots, as ex- 
plained above, to be used in establishing new growth 
later in August, as we always put out six new rows 
each season and demolish six old ones, as young plants 
yield more and better fruit than old ones. For market 
the culture cannot be so careful, because the size of 
the beds will necessitate the use of horse cultivation. 
What is more, pot plants cost too much. 

The successful market grower, to whom I have re- 
ferred previously, practises the following method: 
The ground from which early potatoes have been 
harvested is sown with oats and rye, and when that 
crop is removed the following summer the ground is 
ploughed, harrowed and marked off in rows four feet 



I40 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

apart, and the plants are taken from the field set out 
the year before. 

When the field is planted in June, a man goes 
through the rows about August and covers the tips of 
the runners with a little soil, to hold them down to the 
ground. This work is usually done by a man's foot 
and a hoe; then, after growth stops in the fall or be- 
fore it starts the following spring, the young plants 
formed from the runners are severed from the parent 
plant and taken up. This is accomplished by running 
a one-horse plough along the outside of the rows to 
cut the runners and throw out the plants, so making 
it easy for a man to go along and pick up the strong- 
est plants, which are carried to a trench in some con- 
venient location and left until the following June. 

The trenches are made about six inches deep and 
the plants are set about one inch apart, and the trench 
refilled. Again a man's foot and the hoe do the work. 
The idea is that severing plants while in a dormant 
condition and storing them closely in a trench prevents 
their feeling the shock of removal from the parent 
stem and retards growth until time to bed. Of 
course, when they are removed to permanent rows, 
they are planted one foot apart and fields are kept free 
from weeds by the use of a one-horse cultivator be- 
tween the rows. 

Even in field culture the runners have to be attended 
to as soon as they commence to form. Allowing sev- 
eral to develop from each plant will make the row a 
comparatively solid mass of from fifteen to eighteen 



STRAWBERRIES 1411 

inches wide at the end of the season. A field set out 
in June or early July will give a full crop the follow- 
ing year and be nearly as productive the second year 
if early cultivated and fertilised, but after that should 
be ploughed up and the ground used for potatoes, cab- 
bage or some other crops before it is again used for 
strawberries. 

The ground on which strawberries are to be grown 
should have been well enriched with barn-yard manure 
for previous crops, but commercial fertiliser should 
be used while berries hold possession of the ground, 
for barn-yard manure is apt to contain the spores of 
fungus diseases which attack strawberries. Any sign 
of these diseases should be instantly checked by spray- 
ing with Bordeaux mixture. One thing more. When 
purchasing plants, remember that there are what are 
called perfect and imperfect plants. The latter are 
just as good for all practical purposes if planted side 
by side with perfect plants, but not otherwise. 



HOW TO GROW SMALL FRUITS 

IF gathered when ripe, and served at once, berries 
— in fact, all the small fruits — are undoubtedly 
luxuries. So the country home should always 
devote some space to them, no matter how small the 
garden may be; and when the home is a farm, ex- 
pected to become self-supporting, the berry orchard 
should be established immediately after taking posses- 
sion, for the outlay is little, returns quick, and neces- 
sary knowledge is very easily acquired. Therefore, 
small fruits are a permanent branch of husbandry to 
be recommended to the amateur of small means, who 
needs a marketable commodity to keep the pot boiling. 
Like most old farms, our place had a few neglected 
currant bushes, a patch of half- wild black and red 
raspberries, and a strawberry bed in a most demoral- 
ised condition. But even these poor degenerates con- 
vinced us of the economy of growing small fruits for 
our own use, and the profit to be derived by supplying 
other people's tables. Besides the luxury of having 
freshly-gathered fruit, there are preserves, jellies and 
cordials for winter use. At the end of the first year 
we thoroughly pruned and cultivated the old bram- 
bles, and planted half an acre with brambles and 
black and red currants. Afterward the space was 

1143 



144 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

enlarged, until we had a good-sized berry orchard, 
which has always shown a profit even in the worst 
seasons. Brambles will grow in almost any ground, 
but if well fed and given a congenial home they yield 
much better. The fruit is larger, better coloured and 
finer flavoured. So, when possible, select ground that 
is somewhat sandy in character, with a heavy subsoil. 
Ground that has been under cultivation for two or 
three seasons is best, because it will have been well 
worked, and so will be comparatively free from weeds. 
Commence with a small patch, say half an acre, 
divided equally between black and red raspberries, 
blackberries and black and red currants. Strawber- 
ries cannot be included in a general small-fruit 
orchard, because the beds are profitable for only three 
years, and it is better to take them into regular crop 
rotation, using ground that has previously been occu- 
pied by potatoes or com. As space is somewhat 
limited, we will devote this chapter to brambles and 
currants. 

There are new plants for favour each year in nurs- 
ery catalogues, but we will cover only a few of the 
old stand-bys, such as the following list : Raspberries 
(red), Columbian and Cuthbert; (black) Gregg and 
Cimiberland; blackberries, Wilson and Taylor; cur- 
rants. Red Cherry and Fay's Prolific; gooseberries. 
Industry and Pearl. The best plan is to purchase a 
few dozen plants of each variety from some good 
nursery for parent stock, and when they are once well 
set, do your own propagating from them. Raspber- 



HOW TO GROW SMALL FRUITS 145 

ries should be set three feet apart, in rows five feet 
apart. Have the ground well dressed with stable 
manure, and mark off in rows. It is best to use a 
plough for the marking, as you then have a furrow 
about the right depth in which to plant. If the plants 
have travelled far, stand them in a shallow pan or 
half barrel, and cover the roots with water for ten 
or twelve hours before planting. Brambles that are 
kept well trimmed need no staking out, but when 
planting young stock it is well to have some stakes cut 
about four feet long and pointed at one end. Drive 
one every three feet along the rows, and then set 
the plant close up to it. Spread out the roots in the 
natural form, and firm the earth well around them, 
then tie the canes loosely to the stake, to prevent the 
wind from blowing them from side to side. Unless 
stakes are used at this time, brambles or small bushes 
sway from side to side in every light breeze, and the 
roots are loosened, thus preventing them from gain- 
ing any hold on the ground. Cultivation should be 
as thorough and constant as for corn until August, 
as it is required to keep down weeds and permit 
growth. After August, cultivation should stop, to 
check the growth and allow the summer wood time to 
ripen before frost. 

To those who are new to gardening, the above may 
need some explanation. Cultivation — by which is 
meant stirring the surface soil with the cultivator or 
garden rake^ — -prevents the moisture from escaping 
from the ground. Moisture releases and brings into 



146 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

consumable fonn the different properties of the soil 
which constitute plant- food. A bountiful supply of 
nourishment naturally promotes growth. Stop culti- 
vation, and food decreases, growth stops, and the 
tender twigs at the extremity of branches have time 
to harden sufficiently to resist frost that would kill 
new growth. 

Planting and general care are virtually the same 
with blackberries. Raspberries are of a weedy or 
spreading nature, and throw up new shoots from root 
beds, which must be kept down between rows, or the 
patch will become a tangled wilderness within a few 
years. Even during the first summer after setting 
out it is advisable to top-prune as fresh growth is 
made. Don't allow the canes to grow to a length of 
more than twenty inches. The pinching off of the 
ends forces them to throw out side branches and more 
canes from the main root, a very desirable thing, as 
fruit is borne only on the extremity of branches grown 
the preceding year. After the first year all the old 
canes which have borne fruit must be cut out. In 
winter, when sap has returned to the roots, is the best 
time for this work ; but as the amateur may find some 
difficulty in distinguishing the old canes from the new 
ones, it is safer to do the demolishing soon after the 
fruit has been gathered, when there can be no mistake. 
Each fall throw well-rotted stable manure around the 
roots of each plant, and fork it into the ground as 
early in the spring as the weather permits. At the 
same time run the plough between the rows, to destroy 



HOW TO GROW SMALL FRUITS 147 

the undesirable root shoots. Blackberries do not 
form root beds that send up new shoots, so the plough- 
ing need not be practised between the rows ; otherwise, 
clearing and pruning are virtually the same as for 
raspberries. 

When more plants are required of the raspberry 
family, allow some of the root shoots to develop dur- 
ing the summer, and early the following spring take 
them up with a sharp spade, which will sever the con- 
nection between the new and the old plant without 
injury to either. As blackberries do not throw up 
new plants in the same way, they must be created 
from seeds or layers. Allow one or two canes of old 
plants to grow long enough to fall over and reach the 
ground, and in August peg the tops to the ground with 
a forked stick, and draw up a little mould around 
each. They will soon throw out roots and top 
growth, and early the following spring can be cut 
from the parent branch about eight inches above the 
rooted end. Dig up a new plant, and set in rows the 
same as raspberries. All the brambles are very vigor- 
ous growers and remarkably free from disease, but 
it is advisable to keep a lookout for the anthracnose, 
which is a greyish-looking spot with a purple centre. 
They are most likely to make their appearance in sum- 
mer on young canes, and if not checked, multiply and 
eventually kill the plants. Cut out any affected canes 
immediately after discovery, and burn. Spray the ad- 
jacent plants with Bordeaux mixture two or three 
times, allowing twelve or fifteen days between the 



148 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

applications. If old plants are affected, they don't 
need any consideration — take shoots from them. 
Orange-rust is the yellowish-looking spot on the under 
side of the leaves. The only remedy is to dig up, 
and cremate, but I truly think, instead of talking about 
cause and cure of occasional diseases, it is better to 
set out new plants every five or six years, for fresh- 
grown youthful vigour invariably militates disease 
more than any amount of doctoring. 

Currants, both black and red, should be in every 
small-fruit orchard; or if there is no special orchard, 
a few bushes should be planted in the vegetable gar- 
den. iBushes should stand five feet apart, in a partly 
shady position if possible, and in rich, moist soil. 
Currant bushes bear for many years if properly cared 
for, and in their case pruning need not be an annual 
occurrence, as the same branches will bear for several 
years ; it is advisable, however, to cut out a few of the 
older branches every two or three years, and encour- 
age new growth. Early in the spring spray well, and 
again after the fruit has formed, and yet again late 
in the summer, for borers. This is the worst and 
commonest enemy the currant has. It originates 
from a dark-blue moth with yellow bands across the 
body, which lays its eggs on the buds of the outer 
branches. The eggs hatch into small white cater- 
pillars with dark heads. After destroying the appear- 
ance of the bush they bore to the centre of the stems, 
and remain there until the following year. Much 
disease and many insect pests will be averted if all 



HOW TO GROW SMALL FRUITS 149 

dead leaves are raked up from under the bushes in the 
late fall, and burned. Mulch around the bushes in 
the early winter with stable manure, and fork into the 
ground the following spring. Stock can be increased 
either by dividing large bushes, which is really the 
quickest way, or by taking cuttings. If the latter 
method is followed — and when there are only young 
bushes on the premises, it will have to be — take about 
eight inches ofif the end of well-developed branches 
of the same season's growth. Plant them so that all 
but the top leaf -bud is under ground. They need not 
be set more than three inches apart, and must be 
transplanted the following year. August is the best 
season to take the cuttings, as it gives them time to 
form roots before frost. In November protect them 
slightly with a mulch of straw or leaves. They 
should remain in the nursery bed for a year before 
being transplanted again to their permanent position. 

Gooseberries are usually picked green and used for 
pies, but when the large- fruiting varieties are grown 
they are delicious raw when ripe. The soil should be 
rich, heavy loam well drained. Little pruning is 
needed for the first two or three years beyond the clip- 
ping back of the shoots to develop fruit spurs along 
the cane, but of course weak or broken branches must 
be removed. 

Propagation is done by suckers and mound layers, 
though the American varieties grow easily from cut- 
tings. To procure strong mound layers, cut the old 
bushes back in the late fall or early spring to encour- 



ISO MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

age new shoots to spring up from the roots, and when 
they are from one to two feet high press them out- 
ward from the parent plant, covering the base of the 
shoot up to about four inches above the root with 
earth, packing it well down. Then in the fall or fol- 
lowing spring sever the shoot from the parent plant 
and transplant to the permanent home. Let them 
stand about four feet apart each way. 



HOW TO RAISE PERENNIAL PLANTS 

THE revival of the old-time hardy garden has 
become such a craze among fashionable folk 
that the country woman who desires to add 
to her income will find growing perennial plants for 
sale a profitable occupation, provided, remember, that 
there is a well-to-do community near at hand where 
she may find a ready market. 

Like all occupations which have to do with Nature, 
it is folly to attempt it unless you have an innate love 
of the work, for it requires the comprehensive sym- 
pathy of a real affinity, as well as technical knowledge, 
to rear either plants or animals successfully. 

The great advantage in raising bedding plants is the 
small space and capital required. A hundred square 
feet, and two or three dollars for seeds, will enable 
anyone to make a beginning, which can easily be 
worked up into a large business. The correct month 
for starting perennials from seed is June, but as that 
necessitates waiting about nine months for any re- 
turns, I am sure the beginner will agree with me in 
thinking it is best to start some in the house or hotbed, 
for then the varieties which flower the first season can 
be sold in May or June, and those which don't flower 

151 



152 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

until the second season will be large, strong plants in 
October, when many people set out hardy plants. 

The sashes for hotbeds, glazed and painted ready 
for use, cost only three dollars and fifty cents each, 
and the walls of the beds can be made out of any old 
boards, so they do not add very much to the expense 
of starting, but if you do not care to undertake any- 
thing so professional as this at first, it is quite possible 
to manage with shallow boxes, if you have a south or 
southeast window in a room which averages from 
sixty to sixty-five degrees. 

The first consideration is getting good potting 
mould for the seed-beds or boxes. It must be light 
and fibrous, a condition best arrived at by shaving off 
the under side of grass sods, and mixing with about 
twice the amount of ordinary garden soil and a little 
fine sand. But as you are not likely to have a store 
of sods, and the frozen condition of the ground will 
make it difficult to get them, you must substitute well- 
rotted cow manure. Have ordinary garden soil car- 
ried into some place warm enough to dissipate all 
frost, then mix thoroughly with the pulverised manure 
and sand. Pass through a fine sieve, and it will be 
ready for use. 

Even when the hotbed is used, it is better to have 
small boxes for the different varieties of seeds, and 
stand them in the hotbed, instead of sowing the seed 
directly in the bed itself, for some varieties take 
longer than others to germinate, and it is a difficult 
problem to ventilate and water a bed containing a mis- 



HOW TO RAISE PERENNIAL PLANTS i53i 

cellaneous assortment, but when the seeds are in boxes, 
they can be removed from the bed during the warm 
part of the day, and the difficulty is miHtated. Boxe^ 
should be about two and a half inches deep, and have 
a few cracks or holes in the bottom for drainage. 
Cover the bottom with a layer of coal ashes, then fill 
to within a quarter of an inch of the top with the 
potting-mould. Smooth it off evenly, water and stand 
in a warm place. 

Within a few days there will be a crop of weed 
seedlings. Demolish them, rewater and allow a few 
days to elapse on the chance of a second crop appear- 
ing, after which it will be safe to do the planting. It 
is a good scheme to use a flour or powdered-sugar 
shaker for very small seeds, instead of trying to sow 
them by hand. When seeds are large enough to han- 
dle individually, like hollyhocks, push them into the 
soil with the point of a pencil or a wooden-skewer, 
half an inch apart in rows one inch apart. 

After the seeds have been placed, scatter mould 
over them. The amount has to be determined by the 
size of the seeds. The general rule is, twice their 
own depth; but with the very minute varieties it is 
better to put no covering at all. 

No matter what the depth of covering, the soil must 
be pressed firmly down with a smooth piece of board, 
cut to fit inside the box. A desk-blotter or roller is 
very convenient, and does the work very evenly. Do 
not be afraid to press down firmly. The seeds must 
be closely imbedded in the soil, otherwise the air will 



154 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

dry up the first frail sprouts and kill tHem. After 
the rolling and pressing, sprinkle with water, then 
cover with a piece of glass or paper, and stand in the 
hotbed or window. 

Covering the boxes with glass or paper is done to 
retard evaporation. Seeds must never be allowed to 
dry out during the time of germination; watering is 
so likely to disturb the soil around them that it is to be 
avoided if possible, but if it has to be done, use a very 
fine rose on the sprinkler, warm water and be very 
careful. 

After the seedlings appear, remove the covering, 
and when the second leaves have developed, transplant 
into fresh boxes if you are depending on window cul- 
ture. If you have a hotbed, they can be set in row^ 
from one to two inches apart, according to the size of 
the plants. 

During the bright warm days the sasH of the hotbed 
should be raised or entirely removed, but be very 
watchful of the weather. Spring is sucH a treacher- 
ous time of year that the warm mornings may develop 
into frosty afternoons. Always replace the sash over 
the hotbed by three o'clock in the afternoon, and cover 
with mats before dusk. As soon as the ground is in 
condition for the outside nursery beds, dig and thor- 
oughly cultivate, for the plants which are to be held 
over for fall sales must be bedded out as soon as all 
fear of frost is past, and seeds sown for the next 
year's stock. 

The seed-beds in the open ground must be well pre- 



HOW TO RAISE PERENNIAL PLANTS 155 

pared and made very fine and fibrous. Sow tlie seeds 
in rows and transplant as with the house seedlings. 
Beds must all be kept free from weeds and under good 
cultivation during the growing season. When severe 
weather comes in the fall, cover lightly with leaves or 
soil, and the plants will winter safely and be ready for 
spring sales the following year. The house-raised 
seedlings which are to be sold for this year's bedding 
can go into garden beds, but it is really better to put 
them into small individual pots, which should be partly 
submerged in soil or sand. Customers will usually 
pay a few cents extra for pot-plants. 

There is such an endless variety of perennial plants 
that it is impossible to grow them all ; in fact, it would 
be very foolish to try to do so. Select the best-known 
and most popular kinds, and have some of different 
sizes, so that you can make up selections for beds. 
Hollyhocks, foxgloves, golden glow, monk's-hood all 
range from three and a half to five feet in height. 
After them come phlox, larkspur, false dragon's- 
head, Canterbury bells and bergamot. A step lower 
are bleeding-heart, columbine, leopard's-bane, asters, 
sweet-williams and wallflowers. Still lower are Ice- 
land poppies, Japanese primroses, wake-robin and 
pansies. 

The first year it would add to your profit to grow 
a few of the annual varieties in the hotbed collection : 
Hollyhocks, sweet sultans, sweet tobacco, asters, wall- 
flowers, mignonette and salvia. Among the peren- 
nials which will flower the first season if seed is sown 



156 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

in boxes or hotbeds, are monk*s-hood (which is one of 
the most charming of the tall blue flowers and 
comes also in white, and blue- white mixed) ; larkspur; 
Chinese bellflower (large bell-shaped flowers of steel 
blue, white and violet) ; heliotrope and marshmallows 
(pink, rose colour, white with crimson spots, and 
golden yellow with maroon centres) — these are 
amongst the most valuable of the first-year bloomers, 
for they flower all through the summer. Three of 
the most fragrant annuals are sweet tobacco, sweet 
sultan and mignonette. 

Sweet-williams are such old favourites, and are so 
multicoloured that I have always been thankful that 
they flowered the first season. Meadow-sweet — or 
goat's-beard, as it is often called — is white and fra- 
grant. Blanket-flower grows about two feet high, 
and has most gorgeous flowers, dark velvety brown 
marked with blotches of crimson. Of course, all the 
varieties suggested for early house-culture should also 
be sown in the open ground in June to produce a 
plentiful supply of strong plants for the following 
year. 



JUNE ROSES 

THE first luxury we allowed ourselves on the 
farm was a collection of roses. We had put 
aside a sum of money for some necessary re- 
pairs, and when they were completed there were six 
dollars left, which we agreed to spend on the garden. 
One dollar went for perennial seeds, another for wis- 
taria root. The remaining four were devoted to 
roses. We sent for an advertised collection of hardy 
roses, consisting of six two-year-old plants for one 
dollar and twenty cents, two Crimson Ramblers at 
fifty cents each and two Dorothy Perkins at fifty 
cents apiece, a collection for winter forcing, which 
were only little seedlings, and cost forty cents. 
Lastly, a two-year-old moss rose was added, which 
also cost forty cents. Since that time, several two- 
year-olds of specially desired varieties have been 
bought, but the purchases made with that four dollars 
really constituted the stock from which we have popu- 
lated our own and many other gardens. 

The first year the Dorothy Perkins covered about 
twelve square feet of sidewall, and all but the winter 
collection and one of the others flowered the first 
season. One hundred slips were taken, and eighty- 
two lived. Twenty were sold the following season 

^i7 



15.8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

at ten cents eacH. The second year one hundred were 
sold at five cents each to a local store, and three dozen 
at ten cents to odd customers. The winter collec- 
tion was not allowed to flower until the second winter ; 
then they were put into the violet-house, where they 
did quite well, but as we had neither time nor desire 
to undertake any more hothouse work, we never made 
any attempt to increase the stock or make any sales. 
However, rose-growing for the winter market is car- 
ried on quite extensively in our vicinity, so I have had 
ample proof of the profit to be derived from the work 
when undertaken as a business. But truly, I think 
growing garden plants is almost as profitable, and most 
certainly it is a much easier and healthier branch of 
the work. Moreover, it does not require capital, nor 
the knowledge required for hothouse culture. 

The best soil for roses is that which is rich in 
vegetable matter, such as sod, roots and fallen leaves 
which have been exposed to the action of the elements 
long enough to disintegrate and melt into the soil. 
It is the condition found in the ground cover of woods 
and forests, and it can be simulated at home by means 
of a compost heap. Old sods, leaves and all waste 
vegetable matter are piled up with alternate layers of 
garden soil, allowed to remain for several months, 
then thoroughly forked and repiled. When it is 
wanted for use, pass through a coarse sieve, and mix 
with one-half its own bulk of cow manure. 

If your garden soil is not very good, dig large holes 



JUNE ROSES 159 

two feet square and deep. Then fill up with the 
home-made compost, or soil from the woods, and old 
cow manure. When the young plants come from the 
nursery, unpack and stand the roots in water. If the 
ground Should not be ready, or any other cause 
compels delay in planting, add rich soil to the water 
in which the plants are standing, until it is about 
the consistency of mud, and keep in that condition 
until the plants can be set in their permanent positions 
out of doors. 

Make a hole in the middle of the filled-in space large 
enough to permit of the roots being spread out to 
their full capacity. Never squeeze plants into a small 
hole, which necessitates the doubling under of roots. 
This applies to all plants as well as roses. After the 
roots have been spread out evenly in the hole, scatter 
soil over them to the depth of two inches; then water 
copiously, and after the water has been absorbed by 
the soil, fill up with dry earth and firm down thor- 
oughly. 

Watering in the middle of the filling-in operation 
washes the soil into all the crevices around the rootlets, 
and insures a supply of moisture around the plants. 
Putting in the dry earth above it prevents evaporation, 
so that the roots have valuable food while they are 
recovering their hold on Mother Earth. 

Another point to remember in setting out roots is 
that an eastern or northern exposure is to be preferred 
to ^ southern exposure, as the morning sun is better 



[i6q making home PROFITABLE 

'for tHem than the strong noon-day glare. Keep tHe 
ground as clean and well-cultivated as around tender 
annuals. 

Now we come to the question of food for this glut- 
tonous beauty. Get a strong barrel and stand it on 
blocks to raise it to about the height of a pail above the 
ground, then tack the mouth of an ordinary burlap 
bag securely around the top of the barrel, so that the 
bottom of the bag falls to within one inch of the bottom 
of the barrel. Insert a common tap just above the 
lowest hoop, then empty two pailfuls of fresh cow- 
droppings into the bag, and pour water over it until 
the barrel is full. Let it stand two or three days 
before using. Dose: Three quarts of the liquid for 
each plant every two weeks, from the time they show 
life in the spring until September. 

Hybrid teas are the variety best adapted to garden 
culture. They embrace some of our most beautiful 
roses, are perfectly hardy and flower throughout the 
summer. To this class belong all the Killamey and 
Lyon family; La France, Viscountess Folkestone, 
Mrs. Aaron Ward, Harry Kirk and about one hun- 
dred others. In order to insure free flowering none 
must be allowed to fade on the bush. Keep a close 
watch, and cut the moment the petals show any sign 
of withering. Allow long stalks, as it is the most 
natural way of pruning these plants and insures a 
supply lasting until frost. 

Crimson Ramblers I have discarded entirely, for 
their blossoming period is short, and their foliage is 



JUNE ROSES i6i 

not attractive. Dorothy Perkins and Hiawatha both 
grow rapidly and are better in every respect. 

Two years ago, I bought one plant of the new 
German climber, Thousand Beauties, which is rightly 
named, for it is a mass of blossom, and it is like hav- 
ing twenty plants in one, as it bears flowers of all 
shades, from white to deep crimson. It was a con- 
stant wonder and delight the whole of last summer 
and made quite as much growth as any of the other 
climbers, so I really think it is worth a place in any 
collection. 

In the fall, all bushes are given a conservative prun- 
ing, by which I mean that only some of the old wood 
is removed — not all — and that the rampant young 
growth is cut back to about half its length. After the 
ground is frozen, a heavy covering of cow manure is 
put around the plants at a distance of two or three 
feet, according to the size of the bush, and at Christ- 
mas-time, before the really severe weather comes, 
fallen leaves are spread over that, and a few cedar 
branches, to prevent their being blown away. In the 
spring, as soon as the ground can be worked, the 
manure and leaves are worked into the soil, and any 
branches which have been winter-killed are cut off. 

Our collection has been enlarged entirely through 
cuttings. I cut off about six inches from the end of 
branches, close to a bud. These cuttings are allowed 
to stand in water for two or three days, then planted 
in shallow boxes filled with moist, rich soil, and kept 
in a light, warm cellar, where the temperature averages 



i62 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

about fifty degrees. The following year they are 
planted out into nursery beds until August, when they 
are set out in their permanent homes. Last summer 
I transplanted ten straight from the cellar into a 
garden bed, and by July they were two and a half feet 
high, and bore from four to seven blossoms each from 
August to September 1 5th, when we had a hard, frosty 
night, which checked all development. 

If cuttings are intended for winter forcing, proceed 
as before until the second spring, then transplant into 
pots, which should be plunged to the rim in the ground. 

About once a week turn the pots around, to prevent 
any roots which may force their way through the 
bottom of the pot from getting a hold on the ground. 
At the same time nip off any flower buds which may 
appear. Feed well, to promote growth, and about July 
have the benches in the hothouse filled up with rich 
soil, to which has been added a goodly percentage of 
silver sand. Remove the plants from the pots, and set 
out about fifteen inches apart. Of course, the fire 
must not be started in the heating apparatus, and all 
windows and doors must be kept open, so that the 
plants have plenty of air, and during the hot, close 
days, they should be lightly sprayed three or four 
times a day. After the first of September there is 
danger of frost, so it is best to close the windows at 
night, but the principal desire is to keep the plants 
cool to permit their growth until the fires are lighted 
and forcing really begins, which should be about 
October. When the fires are first lighted, keep the 



JUNE ROSES 163 

temperature down to about fifty-five degrees, increase 
slowly to sixty-five, then to seventy. 

Watering is a great problem, and nothing but prac- 
tice can really teach you the exact proportions. The 
only general instruction is : The plant must never be 
allowed to dry out, nor must it ever be too wet. A 
spray for green fly and other insects should be used 
in the evening, once or twice a week, from the time the 
plants are taken from the garden into the house. 



LAVENDER AND HERBS 

THERE should be an herb bed in every garden, 
for their usefulness is manifold. Ye dames 
of olden times knew and estimated their value, 
but when housewifery was metamorphosed into do- 
mestic science, the traditional law of our grandmothers 
sank into derision, and many factors of homey comfort 
might forever have been buried in oblivion had not 
some wise person started a craze for old furniture. 
That aroused a general interest in the old-time house- 
wifery, and resulted in a revival of half-forgotten arts, 
the hardy garden and herb bed being among them. 

I spent most of my schoolday holidays at my grand- 
mother's place in Yorkshire, England, where many of 
the customs of Queen Anne's time remain unchanged. 
So to me lavender and herbs seemed indispensable in 
a self-respecting household, and as soon as I owned a 
garden they were installed. Perhaps you never ex- 
perienced the delight of sleeping between sheets redo- 
lent of sweet herbs, so don't know what you are miss- 
ing. At grandmother's, sheer mnslin bags were 
filled with lavender, thyme and rosemary, and kept in 
every cupboard, bureau drawer and chest. Large jars 
filled with rose-leaves and mignonette, all the herbs and 

165 



i66 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

many spices were stowed in the sitting-rooms and 
halls, and the lids were removed for about half an 
hour after sweeping and dusting were completed, so 
a faint, indescribable perfume permeated the whole 
house, and was most delightful. Punk sticks and 
pastils have such a positive odour that after a time 
one becomes very tired of them, but herbal odours, 
being delicate and indescribable, merely suggest the 
freshness of meadow lands in June, and invigorate the 
senses instead of wearying. 

The herb then is invaluable for all sorts of com- 
plexion and hair washes. Even Helen of Troy's 
beauty was attributed to their use. As disinfectants 
— well, the plague was supposed to be banished from 
Athens by the air being purified with aromatic herbs, 
and during the great plague in England in Elizabeth's 
time, little balls of perfume paste encased in silver, 
gold or ivory, open-worked lockets or pomades were 
worn suspended round the neck or carried in the 
pockets, and during an outbreak of smallpox, grand- 
mamma brought forth several such inherited treasures 
and filled them with a compound made of beeswax, 
herbs and spices, and we all wore them in the old way. 
What influence they exercised over the dreaded dis- 
ease I do not pretend to gauge, but we all escaped. 
Separate or mingled fate and superstition has made 
me use such compounds whenever travelling or know- 
ingly exposed to infection. Even medical men don't 
deny the benefit of sweet odours, or their value as dis- 
infectants, so why should not we enjoy the undoubted 



LAVENDER AND HERBS 167 

pleasure when it only means a few packages of seeds 
and a little trouble. 

Lavender is hardy when it is once firmly established, 
but it is not the easiest perennial to start in this 
country. At first I bought nursery stock, but out of 
two dozen plants which I got from four different 
sources during two years, only one lived, and that was 
always a semi-invalid, so I resorted to the slower 
method of sowing seed. In March, a shallow box 
was filled with potting mould thoroughly soaked with 
water, then covered with about one-fourth of an inch 
of soil, patted down firmly, the box covered with 
glass, and placed in a west window. As soon as seed- 
lings appeared the glass was removed, but they were 
shaded from the direct sun and slightly sprinkled 
every morning. When two inches high they were 
transplanted to a deeper box and set two inches apart. 
About two months later they were transplanted to a 
partly-shaded seed-bed in the garden, and the last two 
leaves were nipped ofT each plant to insure a bushy 
growth. Cultivation was constant all through the 
summer until August, when they were again trans- 
planted — this time into a bed which was to be their 
permanent home — a border partly shaded by shrubs. 
It happened to be a very dry summer, so they were 
sprinkled every evening. When cool weather set in, 
leaves were scattered between the plants, and the quan- 
tity increased as the weather became more severe. In 
the spring the mulch was removed, and a little bone 
meal raked into the ground around the plants. The 



1 68 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

ground must be covered every winter, and it is well 
to have a dressing of well-rotted cow manure dug into 
the bed during the early fall. 

In June or July we always have huge quantities of 
flowers. We have never marketed any of them, but 
they have formed the basis of many Christmas and 
birthday presents. Ten pounds of lavender flowers, 
and one pound each of musk, thyme, rosemary and 
mint leaves, all dried, and mixed with one ounce of 
ground cloves, was grandmamma's formula for moth- 
bags which preserved our furs and woollens just as ef- 
fectually as camphor balls or tar mixtures. 

Sage is needed for pork, duck and goose dressings, 
and is one of the very best tonics for the hair: the 
broad leaf variety is the best to grow. It will save 
time to buy the plants; they only cost ten cents each, 
are very easy to establish, and quite hardy. Three 
plants will be sufficient for a home supply. Set out 
three feet apart in a partly shaded situation. There 
are two varieties of thyme; both should find a place 
in the garden, the broad leaf English in the herb-bed 
for flavoring stews and soups; the almond-scented in 
the flower garden, for it is a pretty variegated plant 
which remains green all through the year, and is used 
only for sachets and potpourri. Both varieties are 
perennials, but if sown early in the spring will mature 
the first season. The seed should be sown in rows nine 
inches apart, on rich soil which has been worked into a 
fine, loose condition, with a fine garden rake, and later 
smoothed off with a board or the back of a spade. 



LAVENDER AND HERBS '169 

Mark the rows by pressing the edge of a board on to 
the ground. Don't make a furrow, as the seed is 
very small. Next, sprinkle thoroughly, using a fine 
rose on the water-can. Keep the can moving back and 
forth until the ground is thoroughly saturated to the 
depth of an inch. Wait for an hour, then scatter the 
seed thinly on the marked lines, and cover about 
the sixteenth of an inch with dry, fine soil. It is a 
good plan to fill the flour-dredger with soil, and shake 
it over the rows, for then you are sure of its being 
evenly distributed. After the seed is covered, put a 
board over the row, and press gently, to insure the 
seeds being firmed into the ground. 

Thyme, marjoram — in fact, all small seeds — do 
better if they are partly shaded. I make long, narrow 
frames of slats, and cover them with unbleached mus- 
lin, then drive a few sticks into each side of the row, 
and lay the frames over them. For safety against 
wind-storms, it is well to put a few nails through the 
frames into the sticks. About eleven o'clock it is ad- 
visable to sprinkle the muslin over the frames with 
water, as the evaporation prevents the seedlings be- 
coming too dry. If time won't permit making the 
frames, spread two or three thicknesses over the rows, 
using stones to hold them in place, or mulch with lawn 
clippings. I like the former the best, because they 
are easy to remove, and are not so untidy as a grass 
mulch, which dries and blows about. 

When the seedlings are well established — which is 
when they have got their second pair of leaves and are 



lyo MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

an inch high — the mulch will have to be removed, but 
if the frames are used, they can remain for another 
week. 

Rosemary is another perennial, and the plants can 
easily be got from any nursery, but if you want to 
raise some seed, proceed exactly as for thyme. After 
you have one well-grown plant, it is better to propa- 
gate by cutting than to raise from seed. They re- 
quire rich soil, and a sunny position, and need some 
light protection during the winter. The whole plant 
is aromatic, but the flowers are the strongest. It is the 
essential oil which is distilled from them that is the 
principal ingredient of eau de cologne. A cupful each 
of lavender, thyme, rosemary and mint, steeped in two 
quarts of hot water for two hours, strained and added 
to a warm bath, banishes fatigue in a miraculous way, 
and in cases of long convalescence, a cupful of the 
mixture in the sponge bath is most gratifying and re- 
freshing to the invalid. 

Summer savory is an annual. It must be sown in 
shallow drills nine inches apart, in early summer. 
Sweet marjoram is a perennial, and should receive the 
same culture as lavender. Both are used for flavour- 
ing, stuffings and soups. Bane, saffron and worm- 
wood belong to the poultry department principally. 
The first are annuals, the last perennial. Borage is 
an annual which gives just the piquant fillip to salads 
and summer drinks which epicures delight in, and bees 
simply adore it. Plant in dry, sandy soil. Dill and 
taragon must not be left out of the herb collection, for 



LAVENDER AND HERBS 171; 

they improve the pickles, and are necessary for many 
sauces. They are both annuals of easy culture, and 
will grow in any garden. Sow in rows ten inches 
apart, and thin when plants get second leaves. To 
make taragon vinegar, gather a pint of the young 
sprigs, wash, and pour two quarts of malt vinegar over 
them. Let it stand two or three weeks, strain, and if 
not quite strong enough, add fresh sprigs. Strain 
after two weeks, and bottle for use. 

Spearmint requires moist soil. We grow it in large 
quantities, as we have a good market for it at five 
cents a bunch during the spring and summer. It is 
positively no trouble after it is introduced into con- 
genial soil, for it spreads rapidly, and needs no culti- 
vation beyond the cutting what is necessary for 
market. 

Don't make the mistake of transplanting the com- 
mon wild mint, for usually the flavour is more like 
peppermint than spearmint, which is the variety de- 
manded for sauces. We bought three plants origi- 
nally, which cost fifteen cents each, and now it covers 
about fifty feet of one side of the back garden, where 
the ground is moist and shaded by some old quince 
trees. 



GROWING WATERCRESS 

WATERCRESS is in constant demand the 
year round in the markets of all large cities, 
so it is a salable crop which should especially 
appeal to the commuter class of farmers, as it must 
be freshly gathered to be at its best, and naturally 
cannot be shipped long distances to market, which is 
perhaps the principal reason for its being such a 
profitable crop. In France and England, watercress 
farms are quite numerous, especially in the vicinity of 
'Paris and London; but in this country it is only jusf 
beginning to be cultivated to any great extent, the 
principal market supply being furnished by Italian^ 
who take short journeys into the country and gather 
it from the ponds and streams where it grows wild. 
Under such circumstances it is not surprising that the 
leaves of poisonous water plants are often found in 
bunches offered for sale in the public markets. We 
have supplied our egg customers and one hotel with' 
cress for four years, and never received less than five 
cents a bunch — usually ten cents — and from Novem- 
ber to March from twelve to fifteen cents for a good- 
sized bunch. 

Like a good many of the side lines which have 
brought grist to pur mill, it developed from an ap- 

^73, 



174 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

parent accident. There was a large wild bed in the 
stream which ran through the lower meadows, from 
which we gathered cress during the spring and sum- 
mer. Chancing down a wagon-road one day in Jan- 
uary, we were astonished to see lots of fresh green 
sprigs growing under the meagre shelter of a low 
log bridge which crossed the brook. We accepted the 
hint, and determined to protect enough of the brook 
the following year to supply us with fresh salad 
through the winter. Some time in October, brush was 
piled up for a distance of about six feet on each side of 
the stream. In November, when the nights com- 
menced to be really cold, we made some frames out 
of thin cedar poles, interlaced them with strong cedar 
branches, and then placed them over the stream, with 
the ends resting on the brush, which elevated them 
about nine inches above the cress. Though primitive, 
the arrangement proved beyond doubt that forcing 
watercress was practicable. 

During that winter we often put a little cress around 
the poultry which was being shipped to private cus- 
tomers, and so many requests came for a regular sup- 
ply that we concluded it would pay to increase the 
beds. But as the stream was some distance from the 
house, and accessible to the cows when they were in 
the lower pasture, we resolved to utilize the escape 
from the spring-house, which was never failing. It 
had up to that time been carried off by a tile-drain 
under the side lawn. Operations were commenced 
by digging a ditch three feet wide, one foot deep. At 



GROWING WATERCRESS 175 

first it was only made fifty feet long; subsequently it 
was increased to one hundred feet. As the ground 
was heavy clay, we carted clean sand from a bank at 
the other end of the farm, and covered the bottom of 
the ditch to the depth of three inches to form a seed- 
bed, and also to militate the usual creepy-crawly brook 
creatures. 

At every five feet of the ditch, sluices were inserted 
' — just box-like arrangements, made out of rough 
boards, one of which could be raised and lowered at 
will, so that the amount of water in each five- foot 
section would be under control. When the ditch and 
sluices were completed, a trap divided through the 
middle was put in front of the escape from the spring- 
house to divide the flow of water, and one length of 
the tile at each end of the trap carried it to the opposite 
sides of the ditch to insure even distribution. 

It is a special stone building, twelve feet square, 
used for milk and butter. The floor is about three 
feet below the ground, and a gutter, fourteen inches 
wide and twelve inches deep, runs all round the four 
sides, and is kept continually full of cold running 
water from a spring situated about three feet to the 
right of the house. The water is divided by a stone 
as it enters the house, and goes to the right or left in 
the gutter until it reaches the escape at the opposite 
side of the house. The floor and gutter are made of 
stone, so the place is beautifully clean and very like 
an old-country dairy. 

After the beds had been thoroughly saturated with 



176 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

water, all but the merest dribble was shut off. Roots 
from the meadow brook were taken up, washed care- 
fully in fresh water to remove the before-mentioned 
creepy creatures, and then set out in the sand at the 
bottom of the ditch. Field stones were placed on 
the roots of each plant to prevent their being dislodged 
by the action of the water before they had had time to 
establish an anchorage. After two weeks the whole 
supply of water was allowed to run into the ditch, and 
it covered the bottom to a depth of five inches. 

Fully one-half the plants died and had to be re- 
planted, but the following year the entire ditch was a 
solid mass of cress. The leaves were much larger, 
and the flavour much better, than the cress had ever 
been in its wild state. Of course, if the best price 
was to be obtained in the winter, our desire was to 
force the crop at that season. We built sides fifteen 
inches deep to the ditch, using rough slabs, which only 
cost us fifty cents a load from the sawmill in the 
woods. Then we used the ordinary cold-frame sash 
over the top. 

After the beds are once established, their cultiva- 
tion consists in cutting, and nothing else ; and, as the 
cutting is necessary for the market supply, it is really 
truer to call it harvesting than cultivating; though 
neglecting to cut the beds regularly as soon as they 
are four inches high will ruin a bed very rapidly, as 
the plants grow thick-stemmed and sprawly. 

We find that old beds as a rule are not as profitable 
as young ones, so we make a practice of renewing 



GROWING WATERCRESS 177 

three or four sections every year. The method is to 
withhold water in July until the plants die, then pull 
them up, after which the bottom of the ditch is dug 
over to let in the air and sweeten the ground. After 
a lapse of two or three days, it is raked down level 
again, and a few loads of fresh sand spread over the 
bottom, saturated with water as before, though, in- 
stead of old roots, we now use slips three inches long, 
taken from the ends of old branching plants. They 
root very quickly, and make better plants than the old 
roots. 

Twice we have started an entirely new stock from 
the seed, and think the result quite worthy of the extra 
trouble. The seed is very light and small, so it is 
best to start it in shallow pans filled with sand, which 
must, of course, be kept saturated with water, but not 
submerged. 

May or June is the best season for this planting, for 
then plants are large enough to transplant into beds 
in July, and will be well established before the forcing 
season. 

For a small home supply through the winter, half- 
barrels or wash-tubs may be used. Half fill them with 
sandy soil and stand in a light, warm cellar. Set slips 
four inches apart in August, and keep perpetually 
moist. If you have no means of getting slips, buy 
seed from any good seedsman. Start in shallow pans 
in June. 

I saw an item in a paper, not long ago, which esti- 
mated that an acre of watercress, at its present market 



178 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

prices, would bring from four to five hundred dollars 
a year. 

Watercress should be carefully prepared for market. 
Gather and bunch at once, to prevent unnecessary 
handling. Cut the stalks evenly after the bunches 
are tied up, and pack in light crates lined v^ith hay 
or moss. Place bunches closely together in rows, with 
hay or moss between layers. Ship on late trains if 
they have to go by express, to avoid exposure to the 
heat of the sun during transit. When small quanti- 
ties are going to private customers, pack in strawberry 
or grape boxes, as there is less likelihood of the cress 
heating and spoiling when packed in this way. 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH BEES 

THE old-fashioned hive was so inconvenient and 
wasteful that many people who date their 
knowledge of bee-keeping from the old home- 
stead will find it difficult to believe that apiculture has 
developed into a practical, money-making industry dur- 
ing the last twenty years, until now the average 
amount of honey put on the market each year is up- 
ward of a hundred million pounds, representing a 
money value of from eight to ten million dollars. 

In a favourable locality one hive, with its average 
colony of thirty-five thousand workers and a queen, 
will turn out from thirty to forty pounds, besides the 
fifteen or twenty necessary to feed the hive through 
the winter. 

The vicious temper of the old-time black bee has 
much to do with the neglect of this profitable industry. 
The Italian bees are, however, so much better as 
honey-gatherers that they are almost universally kept 
now, and are so gentle in disposition that even a nerv- 
ous person can easily learn to manipulate them with- 
out fear of stings. 

The principal honey-producing plants in our East- 
ern states are fruit bloom of all kinds, locust, white 
clover, crimson clover, basswood, sumac, goldenrod, 

179 



i8o MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

buckwheat, sunflowers, grapes and asters. Of these, 
clover, bass wood and buckwheat provide the bulk of 
our honey crop in most localities, although large yields 
are often obtained from others. Fruit bloom, though 
yielding much honey, comes so early in the season that 
it is mostly consumed by the bees in brood-rearing. 
Clover commences the last of May, lasts several weeks, 
and yields a light-coloured honey of fine flavour. 
Bass wood blooms the first part of July, lasts about ten 
days, and produces a very white honey. Buckwheat 
blooms in August and the first part of September. It 
gives a dark-red honey with a strong flavour. 

My apiary started with three hives, bought for two 
dollars at a farm auction. I knew nothing about bees 
or hives at the time; the owner was not there to 
be questioned, so it was a truly risky proceeding, not 
to be recommended. But if chance makes it possible 
to pick up one or two good hives of the box, movable- 
frame style, and bees of any sort for a few dollars, 
take them and improve the stock by introducing good 
Italian queens, which can be bought for two dollars 
and fifty cents each from any bee-supply house. They 
can be shipped through the mail in small cages. 

When an Italian queen is introduced into a hive 
of common bees in May or June there will be no sign 
of the original occupants in the fall. For the working 
bees are such indefatigable toilers that during blossom- 
time they usually wear themselves out in about six 
weeks, and most certainly never survive more than 
twelve. The drones are driven from the hive to die 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH BEES i8i 

whenever any of the different blossom crops which 
supply honey are on the decline. Queens live for 
years, but as perpetuators of their race are only to be 
relied upon for three years. 

If your immediate neighbourhood cannot furnish 
stock to start with, the best plan is to send for frames 
of nuclei and a queen. One frame would cost three 
dollars, and hardly contains sufficient bees to build up 
a strong colony, therefore it is better to send for three 
frames, which will make a splendid start, and only 
cost an additional one dollar and fifty cents. If pur- 
chased in June or July they will have multiplied so 
considerably by the time buckwheat is in blossom that 
you will be able to build up a second colony. Of 
course, a hive filled with a full complement of bees 
can be bought, but would cost at least ten dollars. 
Express charges would be very expensive, as bees come 
under the head of live creatures, and double rates must 
be paid. The frames of nuclei are packed in light 
cases which cost less than half. 

A hive must be ready to receive the little travellers 
on their arrival, and here again it is advisable to con- 
sider express charges. One hive ready for use will 
cost two dollars and sixty cents, and almost as much 
expressage as five hives " in the flat," as dealers call 
it, and the five hives can be had for nine dollars and 
twenty-five cents. Nails of the correct size and full 
instructions are sent with the hive, so even a feminine 
amateur will find it quite easy to put them together. 
I use two-story, dovetailed hives, which consist of a 



1 82 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

cover, bottom, brood-chamber and two supers. Bees 
are best kept in a quiet corner of the garden, or under 
the trees in the orchard, where they are protected from 
the noon-day sun and east winds. When we had only 
two or three hives they stood on a shelf in an open- 
fronted shelter, which was made from a large packing- 
case bought from the general store for twenty cents. 
In the winter we packed straw or leaves around the 
hives, and set up boards in front, which leaned against 
the top of the case, and sloped out a few inches at the 
ground. This was to keep out the snow and rain 
and yet allow plenty of ventilation. Now that hives 
are scattered through the orchard, we simply slip each 
into a case a little larger than itself, and set up a board 
in front. Further south no protection will be required, 
but in the North it would be advisable to carry the 
hives into a dry, well-ventilated cellar for the winter. 
The only drawback to the latter plan is that the bees 
may become restless quite early in the spring, so the 
condition of hives should be watched. 

A small hand-mirror held at the opening of the 
hive, and a light held in the other hand so that it will 
shine into the hive, will enable you to see what is go- 
ing on inside. If the bees appear restless, it is a sure 
sign that they need more air. Opening the cellar win- 
dows after dark on a moderate night will usually sup- 
ply all the ventilation that is necessary, until the mid- 
dle or end of March, when it is best to let the bees 
have a cleansing flight if they still appear restless. It 
is not very much trouble, when only a few hives are 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH BEES 183 

kept, to carry them out on a warm day and place them 
where they stood last fall. It should be done early 
in the morning and as carefully as possible, so as not 
to disturb the inmates, who will gradually arouse as 
the sun gains strength, and take flight. This will re- 
lieve the intestines of the waste matter which has 
caused their restlessness. After the sun has gone 
down in the evening, carry the hives back into the cel- 
lar, and the bees will be quiet until spring is sufficiently 
advanced to warrant putting them out for the season, 
which is usually when soft maples and willows com- 
mence to furnish pollen. 

As soon as the days are warm in spring we go 
through the hives and give them a general clean-up. 
If a hive appears to be short of honey, a comb from 
a hive that is well supplied is removed and given to 
it, and as some bees are sure to have died during the 
winter, some colonies will be stronger than others, so 
things must be evened up. When a hive has more 
than five frames filled witH brood, one or two are 
taken out and placed in hives having less than five 
frames filled with brood. A great advantage of the 
modem frame-hive is this being able to take out and 
put in brood, and later add supers and empty sections 
as the original ones are filled with honey. 

A bee's life is apparently a most accurately prear- 
ranged existence, filled with allotted duties, which are 
intuitively understood and unerringly performed. 
There is only one queen allowed in each colony, and 
she lays all the eggs, the* workers being imperfectly- 



i84 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

developed females. Drones are the masculine mem- 
bers of the population, lazy fellows, whom the work- 
kers have to feed, hence the reason for their being 
expelled from the hive whenever food is scarce. 

The queen is truly a royal personage, who only 
leaves the hive to tal<:e what is called the nuptial flight, 
when she meets some drone in midair, and returns to 
become the sole mother of the hive. She is always 
guarded by a small retinue of attendants, who feed 
and care for her as she wanders from cell to cell, de- 
positing an egg in each with untiring zeal. The egg 
develops into a tiny grub-like worm, which is fed for 
seven days by young workers; then the cell is capped 
over by another set of workers, the grub being left un- 
disturbed for eleven or twelve days, by which time it 
has developed into a full-fledged bee, which gnaws its 
way out of the cell, and at once takes up the duties of 
life. For six or seven days its time is devoted to feed- 
ing the newly-hatched eggs, then, for about the same 
length of time, building combs and cleaning the hives, 
after which it is evidently considered strong enough 
to leave the hive and commence the arduous task of 
gathering honey. The queen is exempt from all work. 

Within a week or two after a virgin queen has taken 
her nuptial flight, the hive should be opened and the 
frames removed, one by one, and examined until 
the queen is found. She can be distinguished from 
the others by the length of her body and the way the 
other bees cluster around her. Pick her up very gently 
by the back, being careful not to squeeze her abdomen. 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH BEES 185 

and with a pair of sharp scissors clip both wings on 
one side of her body. This insures a short flight at 
swarming-time. When she again issues from the 
hive, usually the excited condition of the bees will in- 
dicate when this is going to take place, and as the 
queen cannot fly with her cut wings, you will have 
little trouble, for she will be found on the ground near 
the hive, with a group of bees around her, and the 
full swarm not far away. Approach very quietly, 
and place a small wire trap over the queen. The traps 
are sold by all the bee-supply firms, and cost twenty- 
five cents. Place the trap in the opening of the hive 
you desire the swarm to occupy, cautiously approach 
the full swarm, and with a soft broom sweep the bees 
into the hive if the position they occupy makes it pos- 
sible; if not, use a box or pan, and carry them to the 
hive and empty them in front. They will soon com- 
mence to occupy the new home. The slide of the 
queen trap can be opened, and the bees inside will set- 
tle down to business. 

After the first swarm, early in the season, it is ad- 
visable to take every possible means to prevent after- 
swarms. Want of room is the main cause for old 
bees leaving a hive, so a great deal may be accomplished 
by careful manipulation of the frames. The lower 
part of the hive is devoted to brood- rearing ; the other 
part is composed of the frames which hold the section- 
boxes. Section-boxes are the small square cases in 
which comb-honey is marketed. 

Among the modern inventions in apiculture is the 



i86 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

comb foundation, or starter, as it is sometimes called. 
In the old days bees had to supply all the wax to build 
the combs. Now it is bought with the cells ready 
started, and the bees have only to draw them out and 
finish off the work, which of course saves the little 
workers much time, and enables them to store more 
honey. What is termed medium foundation is used in 
the brood- frames, and thin or extra thin in the section- 
boxes. Bees will sometimes ignore extra space when 
added above the frames where they have been work- 
ing, so it is advisable to raise the top super, and insert 
another one below it. This supplying empty sec- 
tions materially mitigates swarming, but does not al- 
ways prevent it. It is the after-swarms that it is so 
important to check, as they are of little use, seldom be- 
ing able to gather sufficient stores to keep them through 
the winter. In September all hives should be ex- 
amined, and if any have less than twenty-five pounds 
of honey, artificial feeding must be resorted to. Make 
a syrup of equal quantities of sugar and water; heat 
slowly, stirring all the time, being very careful not to 
let it scorch, for burnt syrup means destruction to the 
bees. Allow it to cool, iand then fill what is known as 
a Miller feeder, which costs thirty-five cents, and fits 
into any of the movable- frame hives. 



STORING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES 

AT least one-half of the profit to be derived from 
living in the country materialises in winter 
when fruit and vegetables can be struck from 
the family living expenses, so the keeping and storing 
of the garden and orchard products are of great im- 
portance to the housewife who wants to make the 
home furnish current expenses. To keep well, things 
must be gathered at the moment between full develop- 
ment and complete ripeness, for, if development is not 
complete, fruit and vegetables shrink and wither; if 
completely ripe, they decay rapidly. 

The house cellar, attic, or a root-cellar or pit in the 
garden are all available on a country place, and all 
suitable for different things. The cellar is best for 
storing fruits and vegetables. Long ago we had racks 
made of two-by-two scantling — some six feet long, 
others three feet, and both two feet wide — to put 
under barrels and boxes to lift them from the ground 
and allow a free current of air to circulate under- 
neath them as a protection against damp and mildew. 
To economise space, we had boxes, ten feet long and 
ten inches deep, fixed in tiers of three, with one foot 
of space between. The frames which supported them 

187 



i88 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

were also made of two-by-two scantling, and reached 
from the rafters of the ceiling to the ground. 

The keeping of early fruits, like currants, straw- 
berries, and raspberries, depends principally upon the 
cook's skill, for they have to be canned and made into 
preserves and jellies. Get into the habit of doing 
such work in small ciuantities — from a quart to six 
quarts, or even a pint, as the day's gathering may 
provide. The habit of waiting for the height of the 
season, when a big gathering is possible, is frequently 
the cause of home-canned goods spoiling, because some 
of the fruit is almost sure to be overripe, and that 
means that fermentation or mould will set in, in a short 
time, and ruin the entire boiling. 

After wiping and labelling the jars, they must be 
kept in a cool, dark place. We have a big cupboard 
at the back of the outside section of the cellar, where 
all such goods are kept. Begin with asparagus, which 
is best packed into jars filled with salt and water, and 
cooked in a steam boiler for an hour and a half. Peas 
are shelled, and about two quarts of the hulls and a 
sprig of mint are boiled in four quarts of water for 
thirty minutes, then strained, the water brought to the 
boiling-point, salted to taste, and the peas boiled slowly 
in it for thirty minutes. Fill the jars to overflowing, 
and screw down the tops at once. Beans must be 
strung and sliced and boiled in salted water, as for 
table, or packed in two-inch layers, with a sprinkling 
of salt between, in a stone crock. Put a plate or a 
stone on top of the beans to keep them under the 



STORING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES 189 

brine, and cover closely. When wanted for use, soak 
in fresh cold water overnight and cook in the usual 
way. 

Gathering and packing is of the greatest importance 
in keeping fruit. The most favourable time is when 
the fruit has attained its full growth and colour, which 
is several days before it is quite ripe. All fruit should 
be handled with the greatest care; the slightest bruise 
or scratch starts a condition which will develop rot. 
A high extension ladder, a high step-ladder, and an 
agile boy are the requisites for picking. When pos- 
sible, choose a bright, cool day, have the boxes and 
barrels ready, and press all help into service. Before 
allowing anyone to pick apples, teach him how. Take 
the apple lightly, turn it slowly, and press upward, 
so that the stem is severed from the branch, not from 
fruit. 

Whoever does the climbing should discard shoes, 
for they are apt to injure the bark of the tree, which 
always causes later troubles. A shallow bag, slung 
across the body sling-fashion, is the best receptacle for 
the picker to use, because it leaves both hands free. 
The work is greatly facilitated if two people can pick, 
two pack, and a fifth take the fruit from the pickers 
to the packers. Have two bag-slings for each person 
picking, so that the collector can take the full one 
and hand up an empty one, which saves emptying 
the fruit into a basket. 

The packers and the barrels, or boxes, should stand! 
side by side, with a box of convenient height and size 



igo MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

turned upside down to act as a table on which to place 
the sling-bags when full. The best apples are packed 
in small boxes, with paper between the layers. The 
second quality are put into barrels. Put a layer of 
hay in the bottom of the barrel, fill it with the fruit, 
and end with a layer of hay. The small ones may 
be used for cider and for feeding stock. 

Onions are ready to harvest when the tops fall 
down and dry. Choose a dry day to dig them up. 
Leave the bulbs lying on the ground for several days, 
then carry into a shed, where they can be spread out 
for two or three days more, while the work of cut- 
ting off the roots and tops is being completed. We 
have a room over the woodshed which we use for 
onions, as they are apt to sprout in a cellar tliat is 
moist enough to keep other root-crops in good condi- 
tion. We had tiers of shelves, made of slats, put up 
all round the walls, on which the onions are spread 
out, and, as a precaution against frost, they are covered 
with bags or dry autumn leaves as severe weather 
approaches. Bore holes about nine inches apart in 
the sides of the barrels; fill with the onions, leaving 
the head of the barrel off, and stand in any unused 
room. 

Potatoes should be dug as soon as the tops die down. 
Choose a dry, bright day and cart at once into a dark 
place to dry. Don't leave them in the light on the 
field, but spread out for a few days, then pack them 
in the cellar in barrels which have a few holes bored 
in them, or in bins which have a bottom made of slats. 



STORING FRUIT ANQ VEGETABLES 191 

Carrots, turnips and beets should be packed in boxes 
or on tiers of box shelves. In either case, they 
should be well covered with sand or soil to prevent the 
roots shrivelling. Put a few boards in a sunny place, 
and stand the squash and pumpkins on them. They 
should stay there about a week or ten days, and be 
covered at night with bags or an old blanket, after 
which put them in some dry, cool place. 

Cauliflowers are pulled up with as much soil as may 
be attached to the roots, and hung head down from 
ceiling of the cellar; Brussels sprouts, the same. Cab- 
bage is pulled up in the same way and packed in rows 
of two or three abreast on the cellar floor. These are 
for use in very bad weather. The main quantity is 
stacked in a pit in the garden and covered with earth, 
straw and brush. 

Celery is partly protected by being earthed up for 
bleaching, so it can be left in the garden until the first 
of October, or even the fifteenth if mild, but it must 
be brought in before heavy frost. About nine inches 
of soil is spread on the floor all along one side of the 
cellar. The celery is dug and brought in with what 
earth adheres to the roots, and then set in the soil 
just as if the plants were expected to grow, only they 
are put very close together and about three abreast. 
When the row is completed, boards are set upon end, 
the full length of the row, and another set of heads 
is packed in the same way, each additional row being 
divided by boards. This is done to prevent the celery 
heating, and rot setting in, as would be the case if the 



192 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

entire mass was allowed to touch. After the setting- 
up is all done, earth is scattered heavily between the 
heads. 

There is usually a large quantity of green tomatoes 
still on the vines in the fall, and the full-sized ones can 
be packed in shallow boxes, with paper between the 
layers, and kept in a cool, dark place. Later in the 
season bring out a few at a time to ripen in the win- 
dow of a warm room. 

Grapes must be carefully cut, the bunches examined 
and any faulty grapes removed with a pair of scissors. 
Put slats across a box about two inches from the top, 
tying the bunches of grapes to the slats and letting 
them hang down into the box, leaving a space between 
the bunches. Fill the box up with finely-cut tissue- 
paper and keep on the shelf in the cellar. 

The cellar for storing fruit must be well ventilated 
and free from damp, though a cement cellar is apt to 
be too dry, which causes the fruit to shrivel. In such 
a case, stand a tub or a couple of pails of water in the 
cellar, and do not fail to change it once or twice a 
month. A dry cellar with an earthen floor is usually 
about right, though, if rapid thaws occur during the 
early spring, such a floor is likely to become very 
damp; as a remedy, put one or two wide, shallow 
boxes, filled with unslaked lime, into the cellar, which 
will absorb the moisture. 



FORCING RHUBARB AND ASPARAGUS 

WE had little more than settled on the farm 
when I read an article in some farm paper 
about forcing rhubarb in a dark cellar. 
[There was a lot of rhubarb in the garden, and a lot 
of room in the cellar. Several roots were dug up and 
packed in one comer of the section we kept for vege- 
tables, but as the article had not mentioned that any 
heat was necessary, and that it was necessary to expel 
all light, the venture was not a success, for there was 
a window in the wall near the chosen corner, which 
allowed the light to shine right on the roots, and the 
temperature was much too cold. There were dozens 
of spindly little stalks, with large green leaves at their 
ends, but nothing worthy the name of pie-plant. 

However, before the following winter I had secured 
technical knowledge and vicarious experiencQ to start 
on. The window was boarded up, and two lanterns 
were kept burning nea,r the roots. We had rhubarb 
charlotte and rhubarb pies, and stewed rhubarb for 
breakfast, just as often a^ we liked, from December 
until March, and what is more to the purpose, we sold 
eighty-two dollars' worth. 

After we built the mushroom-cellar, a section was 

193 



194 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

partitioned off foi* rliubarb an3 asparagus, and both 
became profitable adjuncts to our winter income. One 
great advantage about both of these crops for home 
use IS that there is no necessity to use manure or any 
great amount of moisture, and for that reason there 
is no objectionable odour to sift through into the 
living-rooms. 

Naturally, when large quantities are to be raised for 
market, it is better to have a special room for work, 
but even that does not necessitate any serious outlay. 
A neighbour built a house twenty-eight feet long on 
the dugout plan, on a side-hill at the back of his house ; 
just boarded up the front and ends with rough slabs, 
which cost him two dollars and fifty cents. Three 
rolls of tar-paper, at one dollar and ten cents each, 
were used to exclude light and draft. Stove-pipe cost 
another two dollars. He had an old stove, but even 
if he had had to buy one, it would only have meant 
another eight or ten dollars, and the first crop brought 
him in one hundred and thirty dollars. 

There is often some old building around a farm 
which can be utilised for this work, but if there is 
no hillside or building available, it is better to exca- 
vate to a depth of three feet, making the house about 
nine feet wide and as long as you like. This will al- 
low a two-foot path through the middle, and a little 
more than three feet on each side, in which to store 
the roots. Side-walls need be only a foot above the 
ground, but it is best to have a peaked roof, the cen- 
tre of which is three and a half feet above ground. 



RHUBARB AND ASPARAGUS 195 

so that there will be plenty of headroom m the centre 
of the house. 

Place a door at one end, with an extension shed 
and storm door beyond it, unless the house can be 
built adjoining some shed or#x)utbuilding into which 
the door may open. Cover the ends and roof with 
tar-paper, and bank the sides up with earth. Then 
in the centre of the house make a pit, about two feet 
below the floor and large enough for a stove to stand 
in, and run the pipe from a double elbow to each end 
of the house. 

.The reason for making the pit for the stove to 
stand in is to get the pipe as near the ground as possi- 
ble. It is possible to do without the stove if the floor 
of the house is covered with manure and a goodly 
supply is packed around the sides of the house, but 
as that would be more expensive and much more la- 
borious, I advise you to adopt the stove plan, especially 
as it involves none of the harrowing niceties usually 
attached to running hothouse heating apparatus, there 
being no water-pipes to freeze or injury to crops if 
the fire happens to run down or even go out alto- 
gether. My neighbour, who built the house on the 
side hill, tells me that he had no coal-stove at first, 
and used the kerosene cooking-^tove from his summer 
kitchen. 

Having decided where '^nd wHat quantity is to be 
raised next winter, the preliminary work must be be- 
gun at once. If you have a lot of old roots in the 
garden, dig up the greater number just as soon as it 



196 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

is possible to put a spade in the ground, and cut the 
roots into good-sized chunks, being careful to leave 
from two to four eyes (embryo buds, which are un- 
mistakable) in each clump. 

If you have a strip of ground on which corn or po- 
tatoes were grown last year, scatter barn-yard ma- 
nure over it. If it is heavy loam, plough deeply, but 
if light sandy soil, the furrows need not be more than 
six inches deep, and in addition to the barn-yard fer- 
tiliser it will be well to use a heavy dressing of wood 
ashes. We spread the barn-yard manure about three 
inches deep all over the surface of the ground before 
ploughing, then broadcast ashes, harrowing up and 
down, leave for about two weeks, and then harrow 
from side to side. 

When in good condition, the ground must be 
marked off into rows about four feet apart. Run the 
plough twice in the same furrow, and the trench will 
be deep enough to admit of a little more manure be- 
ing scattered, then covered lightly with soil before the 
plants are put in. Set them three feet apart. Culti- 
vate well through the summer to keep clean and pro- 
mote growth. 

Cut out any flower-stalks which may appear, for 
one flower-stalk takes more strength from the root 
than twenty fruit-stalks, so they should never be al- 
lowed to mature, even in the ordinary garden-beds. 

The clumps left undisturbed for the summer sup- 
ply should have a good dressing of manure worked 
into the ground around them now and again after 



RHUBARB AND ASPARAGUS 197 

the gathering season is over, so that they will be in 
good condition to go into the cellar in December. 

When old clumps have been divided and set out in 
April, they will be large and strong enough to use for 
forcing the following December, but if young nursery 
plants have to be bought, it is better to defer forcing 
until the second winter. 

About November 15th we dig up the roots and leave 
them to be frozen; then about December ist, or even 
a little earlier if the nights have been frosty, one-half 
the roots are piled up in a shed, and the other half 
packed on the earth floor of the forcing-house. A lit- 
tle earth is scattered between them, and then they are 
sprinkled with water in which nitrate of soda has been 
dissolved, one ounce of the latter to one gallon of 
water. 

The stove is started, a wash-boiler of water put on, 
and then the work simply consists of shaking down 
the stove, putting on half a scuttle of coal and filling 
up the boiler night and morning. 

In from three to four weeks the first gathering is 
made. Stalks should be from twelve to fourteen 
inches high, and four usually go to a bunch. The 
roots will yield good crops for from three to four 
weeks, but gathering should cease when the crop shows 
any sign of declining. 

When you decide that the roots shall stop bearing, 
let the fire go out. Three or four days later the roots 
can be removed and piled in a shed, and those that have 
been held dormant brought in and spread on the cellar 



198 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

floor. Proceed as with the first lot, and at the end of 
the season simply let out the fire again and wait until 
the weather will permit outside planting. Then divide 
the roots into two or three pieces, according to size, 
and plant in rows as before. They will be ready for 
forcing again the second winter, so that, once started, 
the supply is always on the increase. 

Asparagus can also be forced in the same manner 
as rhubarb, the only difference being that asparagus 
roots don't divide well, so seed has to be sown each 
year to keep up a stock for forcing. Plants cannot be 
used until the third season, and they are not supposed 
to be worth replanting for forcing. 

Asparagus can also be forced by placing hotbed 
frames and sashes over the plants, and banking up all 
around the frames with stable manure, to generate 
heat. This method only slightly hastens the crop. 
There is nothing quite as satisfactory or profitable as 
the dark house or cellar, because growing roots from 
seed is comparatively little trouble, and the supply once 
started, it is an easy matter to keep up a succession of 
three-year-old roots. Time can be saved the first year 
by buying one- or two-year-old plants from a nursery, 
planting them in the garden, and the following year 
use for forcing. 



RAISING PIGS 

A COUNTRY home large enough to maintain 
a cow should certainly keep a pig, if things 
are to be run on a profitable basis, for the 
skim-milk, buttermilk and waste vegetables cannot be 
satisfactorily disposed of, unless there is a pig to con- 
sume them. Build the sty first. Ours is built on the 
English plan, a sleeping-compartment six feet square, 
five feet high in front, three feet at back. Outer com- 
partment of same size, with walls three feet high, floor 
slanting slightly to the front. There is a trough in 
each corner of the open compartment. The floor of 
the sleeping-room is six inches higher than the outer 
compartment, and the whole building, except the roof, 
is made of concrete, so can be easily and thoroughly 
cleansed. 

If Several sows are to be kept, each must have a 
sty, and there should be one or two large ones for 
young stock. The piggery should be as far from the 
house and water-supply as possible. 

If funds have to be very carefully dispensed, start 
with a pair of young ones, which usually can be bought 
in any farming district in the spring for about six 
dollars a pair when six weeks old. They will need 
a little extra care at first, a warm bed of common hay 

199 



200 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

or dry leaves over straw. It is advisable to watch 
them at feeding-time to see that they eat. The first 
week boil a quart of wheat-bran, pounded oatmeal 
(hulled oats very coarsely ground), coarse corn-meal 
and white middlings, and twelve quarts of water for 
half an hour. Let stand until cold, then add skim- 
milk sufficient to make it like rather thick gruel. Give 
four quarts three times a day for two pigs. Gradually 
accustom' them to vegetables. Outside leaves of cab- 
bage, lettuce and other greens, potato-peelings and 
peapods can all be utilised. Boil until tender, mix a 
little bran or round oats with them, and feed once a 
day. After a week or ten days gradually reduce the 
gruel and substitute regular feed, bearing in mind al- 
ways that frame must be built before fattening is at- 
tempted. 

If there is plenty of cash in the exchequer, time 
can be saved by purchasing a mature sow due to farrow 
in April. When making your selection, choose a pla- 
cid-looking animal with a reputation for being a good 
mother. A vicious, bad-tempered pig is a menace on 
a home farm. Moreover, the vicious sow is generally 
a bad mother. Probably no animal is more easily af- 
fected by the treatment it receives when young than 
a pig. Treated kindly, they become tractable, gentle 
creatures; if abused, surly and dangerous. For this 
reason it is perhaps better for the amateur to commence 
with a pair of little ones, or one old sow. Suppose 
you have bought a sow after breeding; you may expect 
little ones in sixteen weeks. Her litter may consist of 



RAISING PIGS 201) 

any number from six to fourteen. Let Ker have plenty 
of exercise until a few days before she is due, then 
restrict her range to her own sty. 

For safety, it is well to make a fender-like frame 
that will stand about six inches above the floor and 
the same from the side- walls. Then if Mrs. Mother 
is careless enough to roll over, any baby that happens 
to be in danger of being crushed can escape under the 
fender. We used some old oak fence-rails, cutting 
them to fit snugly across from wall to wall, and bored 
large auger-holes seven inches from each end. Strong 
bolts and nuts were put through the corners, and blocks 
of wood six inches square are placed for it to rest on ; 
being bolted together, they are easily taken apart and 
in and out of the pens, as they are not wanted after 
the little ones are a few days old. 

Have the sleeping-compartment thoroughly cleaned 
out and bedded with straw and the fender put in place 
four or five days before the litter is expected, and 
don't disturb it after that until they are four or five 
days old. Put a small quantity of clean straw in the 
outer compartment during the last week. About a 
month before farro wing-time let bran and ground oats 
predominate in the sow's rations, and add a little lin- 
seed-meal. She should be kept in full vigour, but not 
allowed to get fat, for which reason corn is best elimi- 
nated from her food. After the litter has arrived 
give nothing heavier than a little bran-gruel for 
twenty-four hours. Feed lightly for two or three 
days, then increase, giving her about all she wants; 



202 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

at the end of ten days commence to add corn-meal in 
limited quantities and green food of some sort, unless 
the weather is such that the family can go out to pas- 
ture. There should be a little opening in the outer 
compartment large enough for the youngsters to creep 
through, and outside a fenced-in yard, in which there 
is no trough. When the babies are two weeks old 
give them a little grain. They will soon learn to 
help themselves, and so reduce the trouble at weaning- 
time. We take the mother away when they are six 
or seven weeks old and let her run with the herd 
until again near farrowing-time. If a boar is kept, 
he should have his own sty and a separate yard. His 
food should be good, but not too fattening. The best 
age is between one and five years. 

To keep pigs successfully on the home farm, you 
must disabuse your mind of the idea that they are 
naturally dirty creatures, for they really are not. 
Given clean quarters, a stream to bathe in, and whole- 
some feed, they are as self-respecting as any animal 
on the farm. If there is no brook nor spring-place 
near the pasture, a large patch of sod should be re- 
moved, and the hollow filled with water. After a few 
weeks let it dry up, and make a new bath. 

See that no horrible half-mouldy swill-barrels are 
kept around. Table scraps, excepting meat, vegetable 
peelings, small potatoes, apples, in fact all unmarket- 
able vegetables, are boiled in the food-cooker with 
about the same amount of salt that we should use in 
cooking for the table. When everything is soft, bran. 



RAISING PIGS 203 

crushed oats, shorts or middlings are stirred in to 
make it into a thick porridge, the whole being closely 
covered and allowed to stand until cold. Sometimes 
cornstalks are chopped and boiled in the same way. 
When a feed-cooker is used, preparing the food is 
very little trouble, and most certainly it goes further 
than uncooked. Each animal has a pailful night and 
morning. Skim-milk and buttermilk, when there is 
any to spare, and a forkful of ensilage in the winter 
when there is no pasture. Water stands before them 
all the time in one of the cement troughs, into which 
twice a week a pailful of coal-ashes is put to aid diges- 
tion, and once a week an ounce of sulphur and char- 
coal is added to the feed. When pigs weigh about 
one hundred pounds, corn can commence to take the 
place of their grain, for from then on fattening is 
the one end and aim of management. The fleshy, 
small or medium pig, which weighs from two hundred 
and fifty to three hundred pounds brings a better price 
in the Eastern markets nowadays than the large 
greasy pig, so that returns are realised more quickly, 
and it pays to force them with the best of food. If by 
any chance a sow should farrow late in November, it 
is more profitable to market the little ones as sucking 
pigs than to try to keep them through the cold of 
January and February. Ham and bacon is necessarily 
a staple in country households, and a real luxury 
when home-cured. As soon as the meat is cool, it 
must be cured, for should it become frozen, it is im- 
possible to turn it into good ham and bacon. Sugar 



204 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

and Wiltshire are the two perferred methods. There 
is a small hand-machine on the market, specially made 
for injecting the liquid for the Wiltshire method. 
The positive price I don't know, but I believe it is 
about ten dollars. However, I have used a white 
metal syringe, which holds thirty-six ounces and an- 
swered very well for the small quantity undertaken. 
The process given in an old English receipt is as fol- 
lows: Add to five gallons of water, twelve pounds 
of salt, one pound of saltpetre, one ounce of salt pru- 
nella, two pounds of brown sugar. Bring slowly to 
the boiling point, let simmer for fifteen minutes, skim ; 
when cool it is ready to use in the injecting machine 
or syringe. Insert the syringe in the flesh, and inject 
the pickle. This is to be done every few inches over 
the entire surface of the meat, to insure the full piece 
being permeated with the liquid. Lay the meat on the 
slab, powder with saltpetre, lay the rind side down- 
wards and cover the cut side with a thick coating of 
salt. The work should be done on a stone slab, or 
hardwood bench with raised edges. Let the meat re- 
main fifteen days, and recover with fresh salt. After 
seven days more, wash the meat with clean cloths, and 
hang up to dry for several days before smoking. The 
dry sugar-cured method, is, I think, to be preferred 
in this country, because it is more generally liked. 
Place the hams and sides on a slab, and proceed as 
follows: Mix five pounds of salt with three pounds 
of brown sugar and two ounces of saltpetre. 
Thoroughly rub all parts of the meat, every third day 



RAISING PIGS 205 

for three weeks, after which, wash and wipe and dry 
for smoking. Of course, you know that nothing but 
hard wood must be used for the fire. Green hickory 
is the best. Sausages should be composed of one- 
third bread — stale bread grated. Never use new or 
moistened bread. Casings only cost five cents a 
pound, so it is better to buy them already prepared. A 
good mixture is five parts lean pork, one part fat, two 
parts veal or mutton. Pass through the chopping 
machine, then to every eight pounds add one teaspoon- 
ful of dried and finely powdered sage, thyme, and 
marjoram, two teaspoon fuls each of mustard, pepper 
and salt. Add the bread-crumbs last, thoroughly mix, 
and fill the casings. Make short, fat links. 



CARING FOR HOUSE PETS 

IN all probability no creature on earth suffers so 
desperately from human ignorance as the house 
pet. People who keep horses, cattle or even 
poultry consider it necessary to know something about 
their wants and requirements, but the poor pet animal 
is the recipient of much affection and many cruelties, 
for it is cruel to ruin the health by injudicious feed- 
ing, and vitality and happiness by want of exercise. 
A wholesome, happy dog or cat is the best playfellow 
children can have ; an entertaining companion for any 
member of the human race, but an ailing, unhealthy 
animal is a positive menace to the family. 

The young dog just taken from its mother requires 
special care and patient training, or it will not develop 
into an intelligent companion. Even an older dog 
who comes from kennels of repute will require care- 
ful guiding. Of course, I refer to the general house- 
dog; hunting-dogs are usually broken to their special 
duties before being gold. But the house or pet dog 
must understand a multitude of things, all of which 
vary according to the idiosyncrasies of the family who 
adopt it, so it has to readjust its habits to new owners 
and environment. 

Have a kennel ready before the dog arrives. A dry- 

207 



2o8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

goods case covered with roofing-paper will do if it has 
two heavy pieces of scantling nailed across the bot- 
tom, to lift it three or four inches above the ground, 
iso that the air can circulate under it and prevent mois- 
ture from the ground making the floor damp. Place 
it in a sheltered position, out of winter winds or the 
glare of a summer sun. A good straw bed every 
week in cold weather and a good scrubbing in warm 
weather are sanitary precautions which should be ob- 
served. Have a strong screw-eye at one side of the 
kennel and a chain with a swivel snap at each end to 
prevent the chain getting twisted up to half its length, 
and for convenience when handling a strange dog. 

If the dog has been crated and expressed, remember 
that in all probability the poor beast will be frightened, 
tired and cross. Talk to it for a while, and manage, 
if possible, to get a collar on and a chain attached be- 
fore opening the crate. Then let Mr. Dog get out 
by himself, at his own time. Walk him about for 
some time and let him inspect the premises in the 
neighbourhood of the house. Naturally cleanly dogs 
will need the exercise, so don't curtail it. If there are 
any signs of constipation, a dish of sour milk will 
usually correct the trouble. If, however, the journey 
has the reverse effect, which is very likely to be the 
case in summer, scald milk, pour over some stale bread 
which has been toasted and feed when quite cool. 

When the dog has finished his inspection of the 
premises, fasten him to the kennel and be sure to pro- 
vide a solid, heavy water-pan that cannot easily be 



CARING FOR HOUSE PETS 209 

knocked over. Leave him to become accustomed to 
his new home and to sleep off the nervous strain of 
the journey. Should he whine or bark, don't go near 
him. He is too excited and upset to be disciplined, 
and sympathy and petting at this point would mean a 
prolonged fight later. 

Feed him yourself and take him for a run on chain 
in the evening, early in the morning and at noon. De- 
cide which will be the most convenient hours and try 
not to change them. Two or three days are usually 
sufficient to make the average dog accept a new master 
and claim the kennel as his castle, so after that time he 
can be allowed freedom. 

If the dog is young and is to sleep out of doors, 
he should be chained at night, otherwise he will be 
apt to form the habit of wandering off in the early 
morning hours or moonlight nights, but no dog, young 
or old, should be kept perpetually chained. Young 
dogs, especially of the terrier class, are benefited by 
being chained in a cool, shady spot during the middle 
of the day, as they are apt to rush about and be over- 
come by the heat, which often causes fits and terrifies 
the family into believing that it is a case of hydropho- 
bia. 

If the new dog is under nine months of age, feed 
him three times a day. Bread and milk, oatmeal, 
hominy, or any such food which has been well boiled, 
allowed to cool and covered with milk, makes a suit- 
able breakfast. Lunch may be half a puppy-cake or 
a slice of brown bread. The main meal should con- 



2IO MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

sist of boiled meat, onions and rice, mixed with some 
cooked green vegetable. 

After the ninth month two meals a day are suffi- 
cient. Be as careful not to overfeed as not to under- 
feed. A dog should be ready for each meal, but 
never ravenously hungry. Don't give milk which has 
not been scalded or potatoes in any form, if you wish 
to keep the puppy free from worms. Sour milk once 
or twice a week is beneficial, but must not be given 
oftener. Twice a week a bone with some meat on it 
is needed. Some people think that raw meat is bad 
for dogs, but a limited quantity of fresh lean meat is 
really necessary for growing dogs, and being on the 
bone necessitates a lot of gnawing, which is good for 
the teeth and encourages the flow of saliva which aids 
digestion. 

If you should have a mother-dog with puppies, give 
her a large sleeping place ; dry and comfortably warni 
in winter, dry and cool in summer. Puppies should 
be taught to drink as soon as possible after they are 
six weeks old. Condensed milk saves the trouble of 
scalding cow's milk. Whichever is used should be 
given warm; never hot or cold. The puppies will 
learn to eat more quickly if the mother is taken away 
for about an hour before offering food. Gradually 
increase the length of her absence until she spends only 
the nights with her babies, and weaning will be ac- 
complished without any trouble. 

To prevent worms, the one great trouble which at- 
tacks all dogs, give the mother a dose of worm medi- 



CARING FOR HOUSE PETS ^n 

cine three or four weeks before the babies are ex- 
pected, and give the babies very small doses when they 
are three weeks old, six weeks old and nine weeks 
old. After that time I depend on sour milk, and an 
occasional dose of castor-oil. 

House-breaking should be attended to as soon as the 
puppies commence to run about. Never leave a puppy 
alone in a room, for one mistake prompts others. Be 
watchful, and the moment a puppy begins to fidget or 
to run about, put it outside or in a box containing saw- 
dust. Patience and perseverance are necessary at 
first, but in two or three weeks the lesson will be 
perfectly learned, especially if the hours of taking 
the dogs out are strictly adhered to. 

Old dogs, whose education in this respect has been 
neglected, can be taught tidy habits if fed at regular 
hours, the last meal not later than three o'clock in the 
afternoon, the evening exercise being postponed till 
about eight, after which they should be fastened to 
the box or basket which acts as their bed by a chain 
not more than two feet long. Release early in the 
morning and take out at once. They will soon under- 
stand the discipline of enforced hours, for the close 
proximity of their bed calls natural instinct to their 
assistance. The habit once formed, it will prevail 
when allowed to sleep in any part of the house. 

Bathing dogs of any kind or size I don't believe in 
very much, for it robs the skin of the natural oil 
which is required to feed the hair and keep it in con- 
dition. Brushing, however, is quite necessary, es- 



212 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

pecially in the summer, when fleas may be about, and 
it is well to begin early in the season to rub some good 
insect-powder into the hair, then after about half an 
hour brush it out thoroughly. 

Delicate small dogs with long hair can have a mix- 
ture of cocoanut and sweet almond-oil rubbed into the 
hair once a week and brushed out again. 

If any accident makes washing unavoidable, stand 
the dog in a small tub half filled with warm water, 
rub white soap on a flesh-brush, and brush from the 
center of the back with straight strokes to the end 
of the hair on each side. Take the front paws in your 
left hand, letting the dog stand on his hind legs, and 
brush from the neck down to clean the under part of 
the body. The head should come last. Wash the ears 
first, being careful not to let water run into them. 
Hold the nose up and wash the top of the head and 
sides of the face, so that the water runs backward 
and not into the eyes. Last of all wash the muzzle, 
being veiy careful about soap. Rinse in two clear 
w^aters, then wrap the body in a warm towel while you 
wipe the face and the inside of the ears. 

When about half dry let him down for a shake, but 
be careful he does not escape under a piece of furni- 
ture and roll, as he will probably try to do. Brush 
until quite dry, rubbing a little oil onto the bristles, at 
the end of the dressing. 

Treat your dog at all ages with kindly considera- 
tion. Be patiently and considerately firm, remember- 
ing that you must rule through affection and respect. 



CARING FOR HOUSE PETS 213 

Don't hector or worry all the time. Be your dog's 
playfellow as well as master, and he will soon become 
an intelligent and faithful protector. 

Cats can be kept in a city home with less trouble 
than dogs, because they haven't got to be taken out 
to exercise, a duty which can't be shirked with Mr. 
Dog. Cats are needed in suburban or counti*y houses 
at least as much as dogs. The master of the house 
can usually guard against the rarely met burglar, but 
no human vigilance is adroit enough to fight four- 
legged pantry thieves, and a farm must have a good- 
sized tribe of felines to prevent loss in the barn, poultry 
house and corn-crib. 

Well-bred cats are just as good hunters as common 
ones, so it is wise for the self-supporting home to 
keep aristocratic cats for the house, as there is no oc- 
casion to do violence to your feelings when kittens ar- 
rive, because they can always be sold at fairly good 
prices. 

In the outbuilding we keep Maltese and very large 
blacks. We have so many requests for the Maltese 
and blacks that even the plebeian mothers are al- 
lowed to keep one or two kits of every litter, for hav- 
ing children to provide for is a great spur to Mrs. 
Cat's hunting proclivities. 

Considering the service cats perform for humanity 
by keeping in check the numerous varieties of rodents 
which abound in cities no less than in country places, 
they should be the most highly prized and cared-for 
small animals we have instead of the most abused. 



214 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

There seems to be a prevailing but erroneous idea 
that cats are neither affectionate nor companionable. 
Treat a cat as you would an intelligent dog and she 
will compare so favorably that Mr. Dog will have to 
be extremely gifted to retain his superiority. 

The outside cats should have plenty of fresh milk 
night and morning when tlie cows are milked, not only 
as food, but to counteract the injurious effect of the 
number of mice they eat. New milk is rich in cream 
fats, and acts as an antidote to the poison contained 
in the gall of the mice. Twice a week we give them a 
feed of raw meat, on tlie bone if we can get enough 
bones, for even the rat-catchers must be well fed, or 
they lack the vitality to hunt. 

Having plenty of exercise, and being able to find 
grass and herbs for themselves, barn-cats are usually 
normal, healthy creatures, and need little dieting or 
doctoring from their owners, but they should always 
have a good, warm place to sleep m. 

The city house-cat leads such a semi-artificial life 
that she needs more care. Milk which has stood sev- 
eral hours and been skimmed is not an especially good 
food. It should be scalded and allowed to cool be- 
fore it is given to kittens. 

People rarely think to provide water for cats, yet 
they really prefer it to milk, and drink a surprising 
quantity when a dish of it is kept in one regular place. 
Potatoes should be as rigidly tabooed in the kittens' 
diet as in the puppies'. Accustom a cat to eat cereal 
or bread and milk in the morning. 



CARING FOR HOUSE PETS 215 

Our house-cats always have a little strip of fat 
bacon when it has been cut for breakfast, and I am 
sure that the fat and salt are useful worm preventives. 
At noon they have liver or beef which has been stewed 
with onions and any green vegetable which we may 
have; for supper a saucer of milk. 

It is very easy to teach a kitten to be cleanly if you 
exercise vigilance at first and provide a shallow box 
or pan half filled with ashes or sawdust. One thing 
which must be understood by the city housekeeper 
whose pet has to depend entirely upon the box is that 
it must be emptied regularly, at least once a day, and, 
if necessary, twice. Neglect it and the animal's in- 
stinct of cleanliness is offended, and it will select some 
place for itself, thereby falling into untidy^ habits. 



RAISING CANARIES FOR MARKET 

CANARIES are dear, fascinating little creatures 
to keep, and no special conditions for raising 
which cannot be successfully accomplished in 
a limited space. The most fastidious woman cannot 
object to caring for a few families. One male and 
two females will start a profitable flock. The male 
bird should be selected for his voice, regardless of 
his color or shape. The two other birds, on the con- 
trary, should be selected for those very qualifications. 
The male should be darker and deeper in colour than 
the female. In fact, male birds, with green on their 
wings and heads, mated with pale females, produce 
the best-coloured young ones. Never allow two top- 
knot birds to pair, for, oddly enough, the progeny will 
usually have bald or deformed heads. A breeding 
cage with separate compartments costs at least $4, 
but a very good one can be made at home out of empty 
dry goods or grocery boxes. Of course, it must be a 
well-made, smooth one, otherwise it might hurt the 
birds. Painting is not advisable, but it is well to 
rub off any rough surfaces with coarse sandpaper. 
Remove the lid and one side of the box. Leave the 
bottom, one side and ends intact. Turn the box so 
that the remaining side becomes the bottom of the 

217 



2i8 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

cage. Nex!: get a piece of sheet zinc, nick the cor- 
ners, and turn them up all around, to form a tray an 
inch deep. This is to fit inside the cage. Square- 
meshed, galvanised cloth is the best for the front 
and top. Fasten it to the back, ends and front with 
matting tacks, leaving a space at the bottom in front 
for the tray to slip in under. Put a partition through 
the middle of the cage, with a Small door in it. A 
door is also necessary in each compartment. The or- 
dinary seed and water dishes can't be improved on by 
home contrivances, so add them to the purchased list. 

Two half cocoanut shells, or small boxes, must be 
hung up on the end or back of each compartment as 
foundations for the nest. Cover the bottom of the 
tray with a thick layer of bird-gravel, and hang up 
materials for nest-building in each compartment. 
Dried moss, bits of raw cotton, or short fine hay, are 
all suitable. The material for a cage three feet long, 
eighteen inches high and deep, will only cost a dollar, 
so the homemade cage, in addition to being an econ- 
omy, has the advantage of size, which means a great 
deal in a breeding cage, as it allows the birds so much 
more exercise. 

Put a female in each compartment, so that they 
may become accustomed to each other. In about a 
week, the door in the partition can be opened, and 
both birds allowed the freedom of both compartments. 
During this time, the male bird must be kept in his 
own cage, and in another room. During these pre- 
liminary stages, which should run from three to four 



RAISING CANARIES FOR MARKET 219 

weeks, the three birds must have, in addition to their 
regular food, a small dish of mash every morning, 
made of hard-boiled egg chopped very fine, stale bread- 
crumbs, and hulled oats ground (not oatmeal or 
rolled oats), equal parts of each, just moistened with 
scalded milk, and, of course, allowed to cool before 
being fed to the birds. 

After the two females are on friendly terms, bring 
the male bird's cage into the room, and hang it be- 
fore the breeding-cage, and out of sight, if possible. 
Curiosity will be aroused, and the birds will spend 
most of their time talking to each other, and endeavour- 
ing to see each other. A week later, close the door 
in the partition, leaving a female in each compartment. 
Put the two cages on a level ; two or three days later, 
open the door of one compartment, and the door of 
the male bird's cage, placing them close together. He 
will soon commence going in and out of the breeding- 
cage, and in a day or so his cage may be removed. 
After the hen-bird commences to sit, open the door in 
the partition, and let the male into the second com- 
partment. When the second hen commences to sit, 
the door in the compartment can be left permanently 
open, as there is little fear of the birds' fighting, and 
the male will divide his attention between the two 
families, helping to feed and care for the nestlings. 

Special care is necessary during the incubating 
period, for the eggs of these little songsters are ex- 
ceedingly fragile, and a loud noise to which they are 
unaccustomed, even the slamming of a door, will some- 



220 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

times addle them. Too bright a light is also annoying, 
so a piece of green baize pinned around the corner of 
the cage will give a sense of seclusion which will keep 
the bird tranquil and happy. Allow nothing to worry 
or trouble them while sitting. 

Fourteen days after the first egg is laid, the young 
appear. The tiny creatures are a great disappoint- 
ment to those who see them for the first time. Chicks 
and ducklings are lovely from the time they fii^st 
emerge from the shell ; but a young canary is feather- 
less, blind, and has the longest neck imaginable. In 
a short time, however, it becomes a golden ball of 
down, and its early unattractiveness is forgotten in 
admiration. 

Continue the mash food, but after the little ones are 
hatched, feed night and morning. Add rape seed 
which has been boiled a few minutes, and then rinsed 
through cold water. The nestlings' eyes open about 
the sixth day. After the thirteenth day they will be- 
gin feeding themselves in the most independent man- 
ner. When the brood is a month old, remove them to 
another cage. They will then begin to lose their first 
crop of feathers, and must be carefully protected from 
draughts, lest they take cold. At the end of this first 
moulting period, you can tell how the young will de- 
velop, both for shape and song. 

The mother bird will usually begin to build a second 
nest when the babies in the first are about fourteen 
days old, sometimes keeping up this double family 
from February till June; so that with good birds you 



RAISING CANARIES FOR MARKET 2211 

can count on having eight broods from the two fe- 
males, with an average of sixteen male birds. If the 
trainer — that is to say, the bird who teaches the young 
ones to sing — is a good songster, the males should 
bring two dollars apiece when sixteen weeks old. 

The young females can, with a little patience, be 
trained and taught tricks, which will make them worth 
as much or more than their brothers, who have only 
voice to recommend them; but if the female's educa- 
tion is ignored, they are not worth more than fifty 
cents apiece, unless kept to breeding age. Cages must 
be kept scrupulously clean, with plenty of sand on the 
floor. Accustom the birds to having a bath dish put 
in for a time every morning. Should the feet look 
soiled, or the nails be too long, take the bird firmly, but 
gently, in your hand, and hold the feet in warm soap 
and water, to remove all dirt and soften the nails, the 
extreme points of which can be cut with a pair of 
sharp, fine scissors. Take care not to go above or too 
near the end — the end of the nerve that can be seen 
running through the upper part of the nail; for if 
you do, it will be painful to the bird, as cutting into 
the quick of your finger-nail would be. If you are 
a real bird-lover, and have time and patience, you can 
accustom a flock to your presence until they will let 
you go among them in a flying-room and handle them 
at your pleasure; for they are naturally most affec- 
tionate, gentle little creatures, as full of playfulness as 
a kitten. A solitary songster will feel neglect and 
loneliness to a pitiable degree, but will respond to pet- 



222 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

ting as readily as a child. A canary from the general 
stock of a bird-store is timid and reserved at first, but 
^vill soon establish friendly relations between himself 
and his owner. 



THE BUSINESS SIDE 

TO make the home profitable, there must be 
some system of bookkeeping instituted, no 
matter how simple, also there must be some 
ingenuity exercised about marketing. Take advantage 
of the long evenings to start books and lay plans for 
the disposal of surplus products to the best advantage. 
Unless you know what each animal costs to keep, and 
what returns you are receiving from it, you can't be 
sure what your profits really are. I know how most 
amateurs hate to be bound down to the actualities of 
a balance-sheet with its cold facts on what it costs 
to produce this, that or the other thing. But experi- 
ence has taught me that it is the crucial point and must 
be ascertained. Your accounts need not be elaborate 
but they must be clear and accurate. Establish some 
simple system of bookkeeping and after you have once 
overcome prejudice and made the plunge, it is really 
gratifying to know, for a positive fact whether things 
are really paying or not. 

The first step toward general order J3 keeping rec- 
ords of individual animals or flocks, as the case may 
be, and also of the farm and garden crops. Bestow 
a name or number upon each animal, and if you are 
going in for husbandry in an extensive way, have ai 

223 



224 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

book for each variety. If only two or three animals 
are to be kept, a general stock-book will do. Each 
field and meadow should be named or numbered, and 
a book devoted to work done on each. 

Poultry also needs a special book; so do expenses. 

My plan is to head a page in the cattle register with 
the animal's name or number; date of birth or pur- 
chase, with price; followed by when bred, to whom, 
when due, actual date of event, sex of offspring and 
name or number bestowed upon it. On the opposite 
page, if the animal is a cow, the amount of milk she 
gives, a week after calving, and at one measuring 
every month until we cease milking her. Milk is 
tested for butter- fats once in every three months and 
the result recorded. 

The record of pigs and sheep is not so elaborate, 
because, of course, there is only breeding and arrival 
of offspring to be noted. For poultry, the number 
of pens heads the page, followed by the number of 
birds it contains, and the individual numbers, and on 
the opposite page the number of eggs gathered each 
week. 

The feed-book contains the amount of grain, etc., 
used for each variety of stock. 

The farm-book is kept in a like manner, the field 
number heading the page; then, when ploughed; how 
and to what extent fertilised; with what variety of 
seeds sown; number of times cultivated, when har- 
vested and the amount of the crop. 

On the opposite page, in pencil, are suggestions for 



THE BUSINESS SIDE 225 

catch crops and rotation for main planting for a 
period of five years. Small note-pads with pencils 
attached are fastened up in every stall or pen of each 
outbuilding, and events are jotted down as they oc- 
cur, so that there is no chance of forgetting or getting 
things mixed. Every Saturday the sheets are torn 
from the pads and brought to the house, for the items 
to be transferred to the different books. It does not 
take half an hour each week to do the clerical work, 
and it saves innumerable mistakes and accidents, be- 
sides furnishing proof of the relative value of each 
animal and piece of land. 

On one side of the expense book all money spent 
is entered; on the other, all moneys received. A bal- 
ance is struck every month and transferred to a gen- 
eral ledger, which, in turn, is balanced once a year. 

Another thing that must be understood is that all 
profits must not be considered as a bonus to be used 
for personal pleasure. Some part of all moneys re- 
ceived should be set aside as working capital, other- 
wise improvement and extension are simply impossible. 

Marketing home products advantageously is of para- 
mount importance, and seems to be the point on which 
many beginners fail. Commission men and wholesale 
markets should not be restored to, because home-grown 
products of all descriptions excel in quality and not 
in quantity; therefore, appeal to high-class private 
custom, who desire the very best, regardless of price. 

I have never sold through any of the ordinary mar- 
ket channels, yet have always had more orders than I 



226 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

could fill and received a little more than the ordinary 
prices. Naturally the location of the home and the 
quality of the wares must Influence the returns to some 
extent, but not half so much as the method of packing 
and shipping. Nicety in these respects captures the 
favor of customers and they take pride in exhibiting 
things to their friends — which is the very best sort 
of advertising a home business can have. 

When I had reached the point where I knew that I 
could depend on a certain number of eggs regularly, 
I wrote to a doctor friend in the city and told him 
that I could promise to deliver six dozen strictly fresh- 
laid eggs twice a week for the whole year, at a uniform 
price of forty-five cents a dozen; customers to pay 
the express charges, which would be twenty-five cents 
on each six dozen. (Express companies return empty 
packages free of charge.) Within a month he had 
found four customers for me, who would take two 
dozen a week each, the box to be delivered at his house, 
where the other three customers were to call every Sat- 
urday and Wednesday. 

All poultry-supply houses have wooden boxes for 
sale with divided trays, made to hold three, six or 
twelve dozen eggs, for about two dollars apiece. Be- 
fore the year was out each of the three other cus- 
tomers had interested one or two friends, with the 
result that three six-dozen boxes were shipped 
three times a week, and the following winter I had 
orders from the same people for butter and table 
poultry. 



THE BUSINESS SIDE 227 

In this way my market grew, as did my stock, and I 
never had any surplus to worry about. Of course, I 
reahse that there was an element of good luck in hav- 
ing a doctor for a friend, but when there is no good 
Samaritan to start a clientele for you, energy will 
surely accomplish it; for every housekeeper longs to 
get good, fresh-delivered table delicacies which have 
not passed through a dozen hands. 

I know one woman who got her first customer by 
writing personal notes to women of social prominence 
in a near-by town, whose addresses she got from a 
directory. From twenty letters she received two re- 
plies, but they both became regular customers, and 
recommended friends. 

Another instance of personal effort took the form 
of calls upon doctors and clergymen. Still another 
woman interested the fashionable milliner of her town 
to canvass orders among her customers, and paid for 
the favour with eggs and butter. 

A more impersonal way of gaining customers would 
be to arrange with one or two well-located drug or 
stationery stores for the display of large cards bearing 
notices of the things for sale and your address; but, 
of course, there are dozens of ways to find customers. 
Advertising in newspapers will do as a last resource, 
but strictly personal methods are the best. 

Now about packing. Eggs should never be more 
than two days old and must be sorted into lots of uni- 
form color and size. If the eggs should become soiled 
in muddy weather, wipe them with a damp cloth as 



228 MAKING HOME PROFITABLE 

soon as gathered, so that the shell does not become 
pennanently stained. 

For private customers, table birds should be es- 
pecially fattened and dry picked, which means that the 
feathers are removed as soon as the bird has been 
killed, without its being dipped into scalding water. 
As the scalding spoils the flavour, birds so dressed are 
only accepted by third-class market. 

After the feathers and pin- feathers have all been 
removed, the bird should be drawn, washed in cold 
water, wiped quite dry, a piece of charcoal or peeled 
onion put inside the body and then trussed, for they 
look so much more attractive than when shipped in a 
sprawling condition. 

Drawing and dressing for market is not the custom 
for general marketing in this country, but it is uni- 
versal in Europe, and private customers always ap- 
preciate the improvement such rigid cleanliness neces- 
sarily makes in flavour. Wrap each bird in a square 
of new cheese-cloth. Place a few sprigs of parsley, 
thyme and summer savoury at one side, for the con- 
venience of the cook; then put on an outer wrapping 
of white paper and tie with clean, fresh string. 
Things going from a home should look dainty. 

Don't try sending butter by express unless you have 
orders enough to make it worth while to buy one of 
the refrigerator hampers which are now used for auto- 
mobiles. A hamper which costs about four dollars 
will hold five or six pounds of butter, so it is not a 
very great outlay when you can get forty-five cents a 



THE BUSINESS SIDE 229 

pound for 3^our butter. In making up hampers of 
fruit and vegetables, use small grape-baskets to divide 
the different varieties. Line them with green leaves. 
Pack everything with dainty care and reject every- 
thing which is not in perfect condition. Don't let any- 
thing interfere with the arranged schedule for ship- 
ping. Gain a reputation for uniform excellence and 
punctuality, and success is sure. 



THE END 



MAY 18 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





DD0E74aflT5A 



